Herrenknecht to Supply India’s Largest TBMs for Versova – Dahisar Coastal Road Project

Herrenknecht AG in December announced it will supply two mixshield tunnel boring machines (TBMs) to Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL) to construct the 22.93 km Versova – Dahisar Coastal Road project in Mumbai.

Both mega TBMs, each with a diameter of 15.62m, will become the largest to be deployed in India. These will be larger than Herrenknecht’s upcoming 13.56m diameter TBMs for the 508.17 km Mumbai – Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR Bullet Train) project, and CRCHI’s 12.19m diameter slurry TBM DZ636 (Mavala) which built two tunnels for the Mumbai Coastal Road Project between 2021-2023.

Versova – Dahisar Coastal Road is an upcoming six lane project by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Mumbai’s western suburbs and is also known as Versova-Dahisar Link Road (VDLR).

The project’s construction is estimated to cost Rs. 16,621 crore and will be carried out via 6 packages (A, B, C, D, E & F) which includes a series of elevated roads, a cable-stayed bridge, an arched “basket” bridge, ramps and tunnels.

BMC had awarded MEIL with two contracts for constructing 3.9 km packages C and D which will connect Mindspace Malad and Charkop via parallel twin tunnels, each with a TBM-built tunnel length of 3.1 km.

Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd. (MEIL) in 2023 had partnered up with Herrenknecht to source 4 TBMs for the 10.8 km Thane – Borivali Tunnel project in Mumbai, so this news to me doesn’t come as a surprise.

Per Herrenknecht, the two powerful mixshields are optimally designed for the challenging geological conditions of the region: slightly weathered basalt with a uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of up to 150 MPa. The overburden of the tunnels ranges between approximately 13 and 23 meters. To ensure safe operations under these conditions, the TBMs are designed for a maximum operating pressure of 5 bar. The machines will be manufactured at Herrenknecht’s Chennai plant in India, using core components from Schwanau.

I see tunneling work starting no sooner than Q4 2026. India’s Ambassador to Germany, Ajit Gupte, recently visited Herrenknecht AG in Schwanau, Germany in December. The visit included a tour of the production facilities and a discussion with the company’s management board.

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– TMRG