L&T-STEC Restarts Mumbai Metro’s TBM Surya-2 towards CSMT

After recommissioning Surya-1 on New Year’s Eve, workers from Larsen & Toubro – Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Company (L&T – STEC) JV on Saturday recommissioned tunnel boring machine Surya-2 from Hutatma Chowk towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) for Mumbai Metro’s 33.5 km Line-3 (Aqua Line).

This Robbins Crossover XRE TBM had recorded a breakthrough in October at the southern-end of Hutatma Chowk Station’s 233 meter NATM-mined tunnel and then tunneled right through it to get towards its northern-end. This would have generated the most unique tunneling sight in India, and I really hope its movement was captured by MMRC, Robbins or L&T-STEC in a timelapse!

Update: A cool video of Surya-2’s cutterhead spinning can be viewed here. The entire video is nice to watch, but if you’re short on time – skip to 2:21.

The machine now been recommissioned on its 4th assignment for Package UGC-01 towards CSMT (or CST) Station to build its final 556 meter long tunnel for Line-3’s down-line.

All of the rings built by Surya-2 within Hutatma Chowk Station will be dismantled in the coming months as the NATM tunnel (everything you see above) will house the station’s down-line platform area as seen in the below graphic. Tracks will be laid exactly where the TBM is right now.

With this development, here’s a status of package UGC-01 between Cuffe Parade and CST stations where 2 breakthroughs are pending, both at CST. This table is best viewed on a desktop device –

TBM	Line	From	To	Distance	Status
1	Up	Cuffe Parade	Vidhan Bhavan	1128m	Completed
1	Up	Vidhan Bhavan	Churchgate	498m	Completed
1	Up	Churchgate	Hutatma Chowk	649m	Completed
1	Up	Hutatma Chowk	CST	551m	In Progress
2	Down	Cuffe Parade	Vidhan Bhavan	1254m	Completed
2	Down	Vidhan Bhavan	Churchgate	481m	Completed
2	Down	Churchgate	Hutatma Chowk	653m	Completed
2	Down	Hutatma Chowk	CST	556m	Now in Progress (this post!)

The city now again has 5 active TBMs. 35 breakthroughs have been recorded so far (view last) and the following 7 are pending:

Package	Section	Distance, Status
UGC-01	Hutatma Chowk – CST (up-line)	551m, In Progress
UGC-01	Hutatma Chowk – CST (down-line)	556m, In Progress (this post!)
UGC-03	Science Museum – Mahalaxmi (up-line)	1118m, In Progress
UGC-03	Mahalaxmi – Mumbai Central (up-line)	837m, Not Started
UGC-03	Science Museum – Mahalaxmi (down-line)	1136m, In Progress
UGC-03	Mahalaxmi – Mumbai Central (down-line)	830m, Not Started
UGC-06	Sahar Road – CSIA T1 (up-line)	1516m, In Progress

For more updates on India’s metro systems, check out my Home Page!

– TMRG