Bangalore Metro’s TBM Urja Starts Tunneling to Pottery Town

Engineers from Larsen & Toubro last week re-commissioned Tunnel Boring Machine Urja (DZ670) at Cantonment Station on Bangalore Metro’s 21.386 km Pink Line (Reach 6).

This Ø6.67m slurry machine is part of the Bangalore Metro Phase 2 project’s 2.884 km package RT-03 (Shivajinagar – Tannery Road) which was awarded by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) in February 2019.

Manufactured by China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. (CRCHI), it became the first of nine machines to start tunneling in July 2020 for building the Pink Line’s 13.885 km underground section between Dairy Circle and Nagawara consisting of 12 stations.

Route of RT03 – view Bangalore Metro Phase 2 info & route map

TBM Urja completed its first 862m assignment from Cantonment to Shivajinagar in September 2021 recording a breakthrough while I was out traveling. Here’s a snap from back then:

Urja’s breakthrough at Shivajinagar – Photo via Tejasvi Surya

The machine was then dismantled, brought back to Cantonment Station and reassembled for its second drive (906.702m) towards Pottery Town Station and onward to Saadi Mahal TBM Retrieval Shaft beyond Tannery Road Station (710.64m) in the future.

Here’s a snap shared by BMRCL’s Srivas Rajagopalan on Twitter of the machine lined up at Cantonment Station’s northern-end. L&T’s official tunneling estimate for the Cantonment to Pottery Town drive is 280 days.

As of Monday, Urja had built 5 temporary rings within the station, each comprising of 5 segments + 1 smaller ‘key’ segment. I’ll add more snaps here when they become available.

Upcoming breakthroughs in Q1 2022 include:

  • Afcons Infra on RT-01: TBM Vamika (S-1260) at Dairy Circle Station from South Ramp (613.458m)
  • L&T on RT-02: TBM Avni (DZ669) at MG Road Station from Shivajinagar Station (1089.263m)

For more updates, check out the Bangalore Metro section or my Home Page!

– TMRG

written by

Global traveler who prefers mass rapid transit

14 Responses to "Bangalore Metro’s TBM Urja Starts Tunneling to Pottery Town"

  1. Arun Shankar C says:

    Great news!!

    @TMRG can i pls know what is the reason that KR puram to Bangalore Airport is still part of approval section and not Under construction in your Information page regarding Bangalore metro?

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      Hi – piling is the first step of construction work. That’s at least another 2 months out from happening. All activities prior to that are considered pre-construction. This includes barricading, soil testing, test piling, utility shifting etc.

      Reply
  2. PRABHAKAR says:

    Lavi will also make it in first Quarter.

    Reply
  3. Sriharsha says:

    Are any sections planned for opening in 2022. Suddenly all seems to be quite and no new lines coming up next year.

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      2022 is going to be a quiet year. In late 2023 we should hopefully see Byp-Whitefield and Hessaraghatta Cross – BIEC sections opening up.

      Reply
      • Kaushik says:

        Only Bayappanahalli and Tin factory connection is pending right.. Does it take so much time? I thought we might see this line operating by end of 2022..

        Reply
  4. Abhijit Seal says:

    Thanks for the update @TMRG. Slowly inching towards the day when this will be opened in future and many people will benefit travelling the city criss cross way.

    Reply
  5. Dhanush says:

    How about yellow line ?
    Any major updates for 2022 ? Or opening of yellow line is also 2023 ?

    Reply
  6. Sumanth T P says:

    When do you think challaghatta station will open

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      Sometime in 2023. Among the extensions BMRCL’s priority is R1 to Whitefield, R3 to BIEC, and then R2 to Challaghatta.

      Reply
  7. shereef says:

    What is the status of the route from MG Road to Nagwara? How far along is the tunneling process?

    Reply

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