KPIL – Gulermak JV Lowers Kanpur Metro Line-2’s 1st TBM at Rawatpur

Kalpataru Projects International Ltd. (KPIL) – Gulermak JV last week started lowering and assembling their first tunnel boring machine (TBM) S-1408A at Rawatpur Metro Station of Kanpur Metro’s 8.38 km Line-2 which will connect Agriculture University – Barra-8.

This Ø6.6m Herrenknecht Earth Pressure Balance (EPB) machine is the fifth machine to be deployed for constructing underground twin tunnels of the 32.385 km Kanpur Metro Phase 1 project.

It’s the first of two machines for constructing Line-2’s 4.08 km underground Package KNPCC-11 between Agriculture Depot and Double Pullia Ramp. This package will consist of 3 underground stations at Rawatpur, Kakadeo and Double Pullia.

For its first assignment, S-4018A will dig and build a roughly 650m tunnel for the up-line from Rawatpur Station towards the ramp at Agriculture University. It will then brought back to Rawatpur Station and get relaunched southward towards Kakadeo Station and onward to Double Pullia Station.

TBM manufacturer Herrenknecht Company had completed factory acceptance tests (FAT) on TBM S-1408A in Guangzhou, China in June 2024.

KPIL – Gulermak JV in August 2024 started casting tunnel ring segments which S-1408A and S-1409A will erect as tunneling advances. From back of the hand calculations, I estimate their yard will churn out at least 3600 segments to build this section’s tunnels which will have an inner diameter of 5.8 meters.

Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC) had awarded underground Package KNPCC-11’s Rs. 762.50 crore contract to KPIL – Gulermak JV in December 2023 with a 30 month deadline. The consortium officially started construction work at Rawatpur Station in April 2024.

KNPCC-11 is the third underground package of the 32.38 km Kanpur Metro Phase 1 project after Line-1’s KNPCC-05 (Chunniganj – Nayaganj) and KNPCC-06 (Nayaganj – Transport Nagar).

I expect S-1408A to be commissioned for its initial drive towards the ramp at Agriculture University by month-end. I haven’t heard of a nickname being assigned to it yet.

As shared at the top of my post, S-1408A is Kanpur Metro Phase 1 project’s fifth TBM to get ready. Contractors on Line-1’s two packages each deployed two machines:

• Package KNPCC-05 (Chunniganj – Nayaganj): TBM Tatya (S92) and TBM Nana (S93) – Tunneling completed by Gulermak – Sam India JV
• Package KNPCC-06 (Nayaganj – Transport Nagar): TBM Vidyarthi (S-639B) and TBM Azad (S-640B) – Tunneling underway by Afcons Infrastructure

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– TMRG