Terratec TBM T87 in Mumbai Tunnels 526m in December

Feb 1, 2022 Update: In January 2022, Patel Infra’s TBM T83 excavated 653 meters beating Soma TBM T87’s December 2021 progress – see details & snaps here

Jan 13, 2022 Original Post: While metro rail and road tunneling projects get all the attention on TMRG, here’s a tunnel project of a different kind that I thought needed more visibility.

T87 – A Terratec tunnel boring machine (TBM) deployed by Soma Enterprise Ltd. for a water project in Mumbai tunneled an impressive distance of 526 meters in December 2021 without any fanfare.

This remarkable feat by the 3.2 m diameter Open Rock TBM was recorded for the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM)’s 9.683 km Amar Mahal-1 project to cater to the steadily growing water demands of eastern Mumbai.

The tunnel called AMT-I originates from Hedgewar Udyan (Amar Mahal) where the tunnel will be tapped from Mumbai-II & Mumbai-III on Eastern Express Highway. It will run from Hedgewar Udyan (Amar Mahal) up to Parel through Wadala (Pratiksha Nagar).

AMT Project’s Map (view large)

The AMT-1 project consists of two TBM drives totaling 9,683m in length between three shafts located at Hedgewar Udyan, Pratiksha Nagar and Parel at an average depth of 80 to 90m for water transfer.

Soma’s T-87 has so far excavated more than 1 km in three months while maintaining an average progress of 300+ meters per month.

Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) in the summer of 2021

Terratec has become India’s leading TBM supplier with over 40 TBMs of various sizes, ranging from 1.4m to 10m, excavating for various projects such as metro rail (see Delhi-Meerut RRTS, Pune Metro, Mumbai Metro), hydro, water, sewage, and mining projects. These have been deployed by leading contractors such as Larsen & Toubro, HCC, Afcons and others.

T-87 inside Hegdewar Udayan’s cavern prior to tunneling

This project is one of the many projects quietly being executed by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) to augment water sources, improve distribution system and manage water demand & supply.

Main chassis getting lowered into the 110m deep shaft at Hedgewar Udyan

A major challenge of AMT-1 was to assemble the TBM at a depth of 110m inside the Amar Mahal job site’s tail tunnel where space was extremely tight. 

Going down!

The first breakthrough at Pratiksha Nagar Shaft is expected to take place in Q1 2023. Following that, the machine will continue onward to Parel.

Patel Engineering Ltd. working on the 2nd part of the project called AMT-II has also deployed a Terratec Open Rock TBM. That machine called T-83 passed factory acceptance tests in September 2020 and is excavating 5.35 km from Amar Mahal (Hedgewar Udyan) to Trombay Low-Level Reservoir (TLLR) and further up to Trombay High-Level Reservoir (THLR) at depths ranging between 80 to 90m.

I’ve covered over 100+ TBM breakthroughs on my website, and while monitoring their progress I’ve observed Terratec’s robust tailor-made machines have never accounted for any major downtime. Their TBMs have been performing excellently in varying geological conditions ranging from soft soil to mild to hard rock.

In fact, many a times Terratec machines have completed their assignments well ahead of schedule as observed in Lucknow Metro where S52 (Gomti) and S53 (Ganga) were deployed to build Package LKCC-06 in record time.

A couple reasons include the quick availability of spares from Terratec’s central warehouse in Mumbai and a well-mobilized field service staff (including expatriate TBM experts) for deployment to any jobsite within a short notice.

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– TMRG

written by

Global traveler who prefers mass rapid transit

17 Responses to "Terratec TBM T87 in Mumbai Tunnels 526m in December"

  1. Clevin Gomes says:

    When Tansa 1 and Tansa 2 will start Tunneling works for Mumbai Metro Aqua Line

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      1 is already on its way. 70 rings built. 2nd to be launched this month.

      Reply
      • Clevin Gomes says:

        when they started, MMRCL didnt give any update on this

        Reply
        • TMRG says:

          They don’t have to. I’ve observed things on their social accounts have gone downhill over the past 2 years or so.

          Reply
          • Clevin Gomes says:

            Well Ive heard that TBM Tansa 2 will start its Tunneling work From 15th Jan, I got to know this From a Video, where a Worker said that Tansa 2 will start From 15th Jan. After being Repaired

  2. The Indian Railway Guy says:

    Noice! Good to see something different

    Reply
  3. Joby Philip says:

    This TBM’s look very small. How these TBM,s are controlled. Is operator sits inside this TBM’s or it is remotely controlled.

    Reply
  4. Snowfox says:

    Good to hear this! But I would really be amazed if they did something big to prevent flooding rather than the temporary pumping motors they install every year.

    Reply
  5. Bheem says:

    Really want inform that terratec never supply cutting tools and spares on their own .

    Reply
  6. Karunkar says:

    Hi Tmrg,
    This article is more of endorsing a TBM brand 😉 A Chinese product rather…

    Reply
    • Bruce says:

      Actually not Chinese most of the machine is from Japan.

      Reply
      • Karunkar says:

        Could you pl name any of terratec machines in India, supplied from Japan?

        Reply
        • TMRG says:

          Manufactured in China, but critical components are from Japan. If I’m not mistaken, 50% of Terratec is owned by Japan’s JIM Technology.

          Reply
          • Karunkar says:

            Jimt took up some stakes only during end of 2018. But Terratec’s Global HQ & manufacturing continues to be in China. Also, their business is driven by price sensitive markets such as India, Thailand & Turkey.

          • Bheem says:

            If terratec is owned 50% by jim technology then how much stakes is owned by chinese and how much by australia , because according to my info terratec is a renowned brand by australian manufacturer and most of the design of terratec tbm are THI based and also terratec banking partners who are from Japan have invested in NCRTC afcons project .
            Moreover terratec design is totally based on THI machine that is the reason you can see their errector and manlock are so complicated and are very worst to operate

  7. Prathik says:

    Can’t these Tbm be used to drill tunnel for Bangalore metro?

    Reply

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