Afcons’ TBM S-1264 Starts Tunneling for Bangalore Metro at RMS
Engineers from Afcons Infrastructure today commissioned tunnel boring machine S-1264 at Rashtriya Military School Station (near Vellara Junction) for Bangalore Metro’s 21.386 km Pink Line which will connect Nagawara – Kalena Agrahara through 18 stations.
This earth pressure balance (EPB) machine is the first of 3 Herrenknecht machines to be deployed by Afcons for constructing twin tunnels on the 3.655 km Package RT-01 (Rashtriya Military School Station – Dairy Circle Ramp) of the 73.92 km Bangalore Metro Phase 2 project.
This refurbished TBM passed factory acceptance tests (FAT) in November at Herrenknecht’s Indian plant at Alinjiwakkam, Tamil Nadu. Workers had started lowering its parts into the RMS Station’s shaft in mid-January.
Per the tunneling plan, it will build both twin tunnels between Rashtriya Military School Station and Langford Town Station – a one-way distance of 596 meters which Afcons hopes to accomplish in 235 days. From Langford Town Station, the machine will excavate back northwards.
Here are some snaps shot this morning. The shaft is extremely tight, so its backup gantry will be attached only after the initial drive is completed.
Site preparation / barricading works for Langford Town Station’s box finally began in February after a multi-year long land acquisition battle. Here’s an image by follower Oswald:
A total of 9 TBMs will be deployed by Afcons (3), Larsen & Toubro (4) and ITD Cementation (2) for constructing the city’s Pink Line.
With today’s development – 5 of those have started tunneling. Here’s a status of each with figures displayed from BMRCL’s February Newsletter
| TBM | Status |
| S-1259 | Parts are at Dairy Circle Ramp Site (per a source lowering of parts has started. This remains unconfirmed) |
| S-1260 | Parts are at Dairy Circle Ramp Site |
| S-1264 | Tunneling has started (this post!) |
| DZ669 (Avni) | Commissioned in Sept 2020 (319.5/1089m) |
| DZ670 (Urja) | Commissioned in July 2020 (282/860m) |
| DZ671 (Vindhya) | Commissioned in October 2020 (243/860m) |
| DZ672 (Lavi) | Commissioned in February 2021 |
| S-839B (Tunga) | Factory acceptance tests completed Jan 27-29 |
| S-840B (Bhadra) | Factory acceptance tests completed Jan 27-29 |
For more updates, check out my Home Page!
– TMRG
Whats the current status if mumbai metro Tunneling ? As of March 12th and what’s status of Tunneling in coastal road tbm ?
Don’t have today’s numbers. As of mid-Feb, on L&T’s UGC-01:
Surya-1: 339/ ~745 rings
Surya-2: 265/ ~745 rings
Mavala on Coastal Road project has hit 125m / 1920m
Hey TMRG, What is the difference between Slurry-based and Earth-Pressure TBMs ?
Ground conditions dictate which type is used. Couple articles with in-depth reviews:
https://www.tunnel-online.info/en/artikel/tunnel_2011-05_Innovations_and_Limitations_of_Two_Long-Standing_Soft_Ground_TBM_Designs_1245337.html
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308765914_The_choice_of_EPB_or_slurry_shields_for_tunneling_in_mixed_face_conditions_resulting_from_tropical_weathering
Congrats team Afcons. Good luck
What happen to bannerghatta metro work near IIM. Its completly stopped. This was constructing by simplex infra. Now they have terminated this project.
You pretty described what happened 🙂 BMRCL will now invite tenders for remaining works
Any idea how the now terminated Slowplex work would be continued? Will there be new tenders or will it automatically go to next highest bidder of the previous bidding?
New round of bidding
Article mentions refurbished TBM from manufacturer’s India plant. I thought all TBMs for various metros were being imported till now.
With metros being built in so many cities and expressways and high speed rail constructions going on, and a lot of underground digging required, it would make sense to make these machines in India — now that there is a sufficient demand. And these machines would be difficult to transport from overseas.
Need a local company to take the lead on that. I don’t see anyone raising their hand right now.
When will the K R puram to Whitefield metro line be completed?
Should open in mid to end 2023
Good job afcons..congrats.