KPIL’s TBM Gomati Records Kanpur Metro Line-2’s 1st Breakthrough
Kalpataru Projects International Ltd. (KPIL) – Gulermak JV on Thursday celebrated their very first tunnel breakthrough near Agriculture University by tunnel boring machine (TBM) Gomati for Kanpur Metro’s 8.38 km Line-2 which will connect Agriculture University – Barra-8.
TBM Gomati (S-1408A) is a Ø6.6m Herrenknecht Earth Pressure Balance (EPB) machine and the fifth TBM 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 which consists of 3 underground stations at Rawatpur, Kakadeo and Double Pullia.
TBM Gomati was commissioned in October 2024 for its first drive and built a 622 meter tunnel in 3 months for the up-line towards Cut & Cover – 1 section which connects with the Agriculture University Ramp.
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.
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).
A roughly 2 hour video of the entire event can be viewed here on YouTube. At the 10:30 and 14:10 mark, they’ve displayed two of my maps which is awesome and I don’t mind at all.
Per one of the slides, KPIL-Gulermak JV has completed casting 1000 precast segments as of January 21. Casting works had started in August 2024 and I estimate they will churn out at least 3600 tunnel rings.
With this breakthrough completed, TBM Gomti will now be brought back to Rawatpur Station and get relaunched southward towards Kakadeo Station for a 772m drive and then onward to Double Pullia Station for another 1005m drive.
I hear KPIL – Gulermak JV will deploy an older refurbished TBM to build the parallel down-line tunnel – instead of the originally planned new TBM (S-1409A) – due to the export restrictions put in place by the Government of China. Details are sketchy, but I hear parts of TBM Tunga and TBM Bhadra from Bangalore Metro’s Phase 2 project were cannibalized to build this machine. That machine is going to be commissioned in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!
As shared at the top of my post, TBM Gomati is Kanpur Metro Phase 1 project’s fifth TBM to get going. Thursday’s breakthrough was number 13 for Phase 1. All 8 breakthroughs have been recorded on Line-1’s Package KNPCC-05 (Chunniganj – Nayaganj) and 4/8 breakthroughs have been recorded on Line-1’s Package KNPCC-06 (Nayaganj – Transport Nagar).
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– TMRG
So the target of this line opening should be Q1 2027?
That sounds about right, let’s see how tunneling progresses
Sound absolutely guaranteed tbh. They will definitely open this just before 2027 UP elections.
Bangalore metro update- Looks like the OWG of the blue line over the Indian Railways tracks on ORR near Doddanekkundi is currently being setup or launched. Started last night, may take 3 days to complete.
Yup – tracking 🙂