Afcons’ Delhi Metro Silver Line TBM 372 Passes Factory Tests

Tunnel boring machine manufacturer Robbins last week completed factory acceptance tests (FAT) on TBM 372 for constructing Delhi Metro’s 23.622 km Silver Line which will connect Aerocity – Tughalakabad via 16 stations.

This refurbished 6.5m diameter Earth Pressure Balance (EPB) machine is the first of four machines to be deployed by Afcons Infrastructure for building twin tunnels on the 65.1 km Delhi Metro Phase 4 project‘s 6.981 km Package DC-07 between Sangam Vihar Station and Sarita Vihar Depot. 

The machine was previously deployed to build Singapore MRT and was then brought to Robbins’ yard located in Gurgaon’s Sector 74 (view on Google Maps).

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had awarded Package DC-07’s Rs. 1669.20 crore contract to Afcons Infrastructure in January 2022 with a 42 month deadline.

Package DC-07 will connect Sangam Vihar Station’s east-end and Sarita Vihar Depot via 3 stations at Maa Anandmayee Marg, Tughlakabad Railway Colony, and Tughlakabad where it will form an interchange with the Violet Line’s elevated station built in Delhi Metro’s Phase 2.

This is Afcons’ first of 4 machines to pass FAT. They’ll be deploying another Robbins machine (TBM 364) and 2 Herrenknecht machines. I hear those will be TBM S-1264 (Varada) from Bangalore Metro’s Phase 2 and TBM S-711 from Chennai Metro’s Phase 1.

Besides hitting this milestone, Afcons last week also started casting work for the roof slab of its Airforce TBM Launching Shaft, located just east of Sangam Vihar Station.

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

– TMRG