Surat Metro’s TBM Amrit Records Final Breakthrough at Chowk Bazar

J Kumar Infraprojects on Tuesday celebrated tunnel boring machine (TBM) S25B’s first and final breakthrough at Chowk Bazar Station of Surat Metro Phase 1 project’s 22.77 km Line-1 (Sarthana – Dream City).

This exciting milestone marks the first & penultimate breakthrough for Surat Metro’s 3.56 km underground Package UG-02 / CS-03 connecting Surat Railway Station – Chowk Bazar Ramp.

Nicknamed TBM Amrit, this Ø6.61m diameter refurbished earth pressure balance machine along with TBM S28B, nicknamed TBM Diya, had previously seen action at Delhi Metro’s Phase 3 Pink Line’s Package CC-24 (Lajpat Nagar – Hazrat Nizamuddin).

Following a final double breakthrough, they were then brought to Surat’s Palanpur for refurbishment in April 2021 and passed factory acceptance tests (FAT) in July 2022.

TBM Diya was the first to be commissioned from Surat Railway Station in April 2023 towards Chowk Bazar, and was followed by TBM Amrit for the parallel tunnel in May 2023.

TBM Amrit travelled 2886m and built 2062 rings while passing through Maskati Hospital’s station box and passing by TBM Diya, which I hear still has another 1100 rings to build.

Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) had awarded J Kumar Infraprojects with Package CS-03’s Rs. 941.80 crore contract in December 2020.

Their scope includes constructing roughly half of Line-1’s 7.02 underground section (Chowk Bazar – Kapodra Ramp) from chainage 7160.6m to chainage 10720m with 3 stations at Chowk Bazar, Maskati Hospital and Surat Railway Station.

With this development, S25B’s job is now done! It’s become the 3rd of 4 machines to finish tunneling after Gulermak – Sam JV’s Terratec machines S78 (TBM Narmada) and S94 (TBM Tapi) which finished all tunneling works for 3.46 km Package CS2 / UG1 (Kapodra – Surat Railway Station) in September 2024.

As I mentioned above, TBM S28B (Diya), still has another 1100 rings to build and J Kumar’s tunneling team expects it to arrive at Chowk Bazar in December 2025. Whether that happens or not, we’ll have to wait and see. At this time I see Surat’s underground section opening up for operations no sooner than mid-2027.

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– TMRG