L&T Assembles Chennai Metro TBMs DZ1040 & DZ1041 at Chetpet
Larsen & Toubro in the past fortnight has lowered and assembled tunnel boring machines (TBMs) DZ1040 and DZ1041 at Chetpet Station’s Shaft for the 118.9 km Chennai Metro Phase 2 project.
Both Ø6.65m earth pressure balance (EPB) machines, nicknamed Siruvani and Palar, were manufactured by China Railway Construction Heavy Industry (CRCHI) and passed factory acceptance tests (FAT) in the summer of 2022.
They will be deployed by L&T along with 6 other TBMs to construct approximately 12 km twin tunnels (total 24 km) on the new 45.4 km Line-3 between Kellys and Taramani Road Junction stations. From Chetpet, both machines will first travel south towards Sterling Road.
Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) had awarded L&T with Package TU-02’s Rs. 2385 crore contract in May 2021 with a 42 month deadline.
Besides constructing twin tunnels between Kellys and Taramani Road Junction, they will build diaphragm walls, entry/exit structures of Chetpet Station, Royapettah Government Hospital Station, Thiruvanmiyu Station, and part diaphragm wall of Greenways Road Station, including launching and retrieval shafts at the above stations.
The machines’ shields have been assembled for the initial drive (DZ1040 will be commissioned first), while the back-up gantry for each will be lowered and attached later for the main drive.
Besides these 2 machines, L&T will deploy 4 Herrenknecht machines and 2 refurbished Robbins machines from Mumbai Metro Line-3’s Package UGC-01.
Here’s a status table of all machines in Package TU-02 which is best viewed on a Desktop device. If you spot discrepancies or can help fill in the unknowns, then drop a comment below or shoot me a message via the Contact page.
| TBM (Nickname) | Status |
| Herrenknecht S1326A (Adyar) | Lowered at Greenways (will bore towards Adyar Junction) |
| Herrenknecht S1327A (Kaveri) | Launched from Greenways towards Adyar Junction |
| Herrenknecht S1238A (Noyyal) | Launched from Greenways towards Mandaveli |
| Herrenknecht S1329A (Vaigai) | Lowered at Greenways (will bore towards Mandaveli) |
| CRCHI DZ1040 (Siruvani) | Lowered at Chetpet towards Sterling |
| CRCHI DZ1041 (Palar) | Lowered at Chetpet towards Sterling |
| Robbins XRE2114 (Bhavani) | Unknown (will bore from Chetpet towards KMC) |
| Robbins (unknown serial) (Thamirabharani) | Unknown (will bore from Chetpet towards KMC) |
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– TMRG
Has L&T already lowered the TBM to be bored from Greenways Road To Mandaveli? If yes when will the tunnelling work start?
The table literally says one TBM launched and one TBM lowered between Greenways to Mandaveli
Hello Team,
Thanks for the continuous updates on the Metro Work in Chennai and across India. It gives me great happiness to read theses information as it pertains to national development and also at a personal level looking forward to the Siruseri-Madhavaram services as it is my home there.
Any follow-ups on this article information, as to where the bore stands now? I.e. Aug was the month when Greenway to Adyar would have completed and moved on to Taramani. It that happened?
Any information from your team is fantastic to receive.
3 cheers