KPIL’s Kanpur Metro TBM Parvati Starts Tunneling from Rawatpur

After TBM Tunga, Bangalore Metro’s TBM Bhadra is also back in action!

Kalpataru Projects International Ltd. (KPIL) – Gulermak JV this Monday commissioned their third tunnel boring machine (TBM) Parvati at Rawatpur Metro Station of Kanpur Metro’s 8.38 km Line-2 which will connect Agriculture University – Barra-8.

TBM Parvati (S-840C) is a Ø6.5m refurbished Herrenknecht mixed-shield Earth Pressure Balance (EPB) machine and the 7th TBM to get deployed for constructing underground twin tunnels of the 32.385 km Kanpur Metro Phase 1 project.

It’s the third machine after TBM Gomati (S-1408A) and Saraswati (S-839C) to get deployed 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.

As shared in TBM Saraswati’s post, KPIL – Gulermak was originally going to deploy a new machine S-1409A but that plan got cancelled due to the ongoing export restrictions put in place by the Government of China which has also affected the Mumbai – Ahmedabad Bullet Train project’s underground Package C-2 where at least 2 mega TBMs are planned to be deployed in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

Due to that, KPIL – Gulermak JV ended up buying ITD Cementation’s TBM Tunga (S-838B) and TBM Bhadra (S-840B) which each previously built 4 of Bangalore Metro Pink Line’s tunnels between June 2021 – October 2024.

While TBM Saraswati will only excavate and build one tunnel (Rawatpur – Agriculture Ramp), TBM Paravati will build two tunnels. It will first build a roughly 750m tunnel for the up-line from Rawatpur to Kakadeo, then get dragged through Kakadeo’s station box, and build another roughly 700m tunnel towards Double Pullia.

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).

As shared at the top of my post, TBM Parvati is Kanpur Metro Phase 1 project’s seventh TBM to get going. 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

In other news – Kanpur Metro’s 6.8 km Moti Jheel – Kanpur Central stretch with parts of KNPCC-01R, KNPCC-05 and KNPCC-06 is just a few weeks, if not days, away from becoming operational after the Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) inspected the line for readiness last week. Once that goes live, Kanpur Metro’s operational Line-1 will become 15.5 km long.

For more updates, check out the Kanpur 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