Agra Metro’s TBM Shivaji Records 1st Breakthrough at Taj Mahal Ramp

Afcons Infrastructure – SAM India JV today celebrated the first breakthrough by their third tunnel boring machine (TBM) Shivaji (S-718C) for the 29.40 km Agra Metro Phase 1 project.

This refurbished Ø6.63m diameter Herrenknecht Earth Pressure Balance machine was commissioned in early August 2023 to build twin underground tunnels on 14.25 km Line-1’s 7.93 km RBS College Ramp – Taj Mahal Ramp section (Package AGCC-02).

For its first assignment, Shivaji bored and built a roughly 228m long tunnel for the up-line from Taj Mahal Station’s launch shaft towards the cut & cover ramp on Fatehabad Road. This ramp connects to Sam India’s Package AGCC-01 where trial runs are underway.

Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC) had awarded Afcons – SAM Consortium with this section’s Rs. 1819.79 crore civil construction contract in March 2022 with a 48 month deadline.

Their section from chainage 3630.000 to 11564.485 consists of twin tunnels connecting 7 stations at Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Jama Masjid, SN Medical College, Agra College, Raja ki Mandi and RBS College.

Interestingly, the paint on Shivaji’s cutterhead barely came off – thanks to a short distance and easy soil profile to bore through.

Shivaji will now re-deployed to build the parallel roughly 228m long down-line tunnel. Looking at the breakthrough shaft area’s set-up, I reckon instead of turning the machine around – most likely it’ll be dismantled, transported, re-assembled and relaunched from Taj Mahal Station.

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– TMRG