Bangalore Metro to receive four new TBMs from CRCHI

Changsha, China (Urban Transport News): The Chinese tunnel boring machine (TBM) manufacturer China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. (CRCHI) had completed factory acceptance tests (FAT) of four new slurry TBMs in November and December 2019. Out of these, two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) which were tested by CRCHI in November have been named “Avni” and “Lavi” and dispatched to India.

Both are currently in-transit to reach Bangalore and expected to arrive in the city by January-end. The other two TBMs "Urja" and "Vindhya" are all set to dispatch from the CRCHI's Changsha plant. These four CRCHI made new slurry tunnel boring machines will be used to drag underground tunnels on the 13.885 km long Dairy Circle – Nagawara section of Reach-6 of Bangalore Metro Rail project. This section is part of 21.386 km long Line 4 (Pink Line) of the 72 km long of Bangalore Metro rail project Phase 2.

China Railway Construction Heavy Industry (CRCHI) has successfully completed the factory acceptance test of the upcoming two giants slurry tunnel boring machines AVNI & URJAA in Changsha China to be used for dragging the upcoming Banglore Metro Line-4.

Photo: Abhilash Singh pic.twitter.com/DHbnv6Xxuf — Urban Transport News ? (@urbantransnews) January 4, 2020

In February 2019, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) had awarded two civil construction packages RT-02 (Vellara Road Station – Shivaji Nagar) and RT-03 (Shivajinagar Station – Tannery Road) to Larsen & Toubro Limited. All the aforesaid four Ø6.65m slurry tunnel boring machines will be used by L&T construction for twin tunnels exclusively on 2.755 km and 2.884 km sections under package RT-02 and RT-03 respectively. The remaining two packages,

• Package RT-01: 3.65 km, Dairy Circle (South Ramp) to Vellara Junction was awarded to Afcons Infrastructure Limited in June 2019. The Afcons Infrastructure will deploy three TBMs to complete the project.
• Package RT-04: (4.591 km, Tannery Road to North Ramp at Nagawara) was awarded to ITD Cementation also in June 2019. The ITD Cementation will deploy two TBMs to complete the project.

Earlier, slurry tunnel boring machines have outperformed Earth Pressure Balance (EPB) machines in the Bangalore Metro Rail project. CEC-Soma-CICI JV had deployed one Earth Pressure Balance (EPB) tunnel boring machine and two Hitachi Zosen slurry TBMs (Helen & Margarita) to construct the underground sections of Purple Line of Bangalore Metro Rail project, Phase 1.