Bangalore Metro’s TBM Varada Makes 2nd Breakthrough at Langford

Tunnel Boring Machine S-1264 operated by Afcons Infrastructure last week recorded a tunnel breakthrough at Langford Town Station for Bangalore Metro’s 21.386 km Pink Line (Nagawara – Kalena Agrahara).

Nicknamed Varada, this was TBM S-1264’s second and final breakthrough for 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 Herrenknecht earth pressure balance (EPB) machine was originally commissioned in March 2021 from Rashtriya Military School Station (near Vellara Junction) to build the 596 m up-line tunnel towards Langford Town where it recorded a breakthrough in November 2021.

The machine’s parts were then brought back to RMS Station and relaunched in January 2022 to build the parallel 596m down-line tunnel.

Images via BMRCL:

Per the tunneling plan, Afcons was hoping to complete tunneling on this section in 235 days, and they accomplished the task in 225 days.

A video can be viewed here posted by Christin Mathew Philip at TOI.

BMRCL’s recent August newsletter indicates approximately 57% of tunneling work has been completed for Phase 2 (total scope: 20,855m).

With this development, TBM Varada’s job for the project is over and will now be retired. A total of 13 out of 26 breakthroughs have recorded: 4 on Package RT-01 by Afcons, 2 on RT-02 by L&T, 4 on RT-03 by L&T, and 3 on RT-04 by ITD Cementation.

For more updates, check out the Bangalore section or my Home Page! Sign up for free instant email notifications on new posts over here. Like this post? See how you can get early-access to updates and support the site over here.

– TMRG