BENGALURU: The first of nine Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) to complete its job, Urja, will kickstart another leg of its underground tunnelling beginning Wednesday. This stretch will involve 907 metres of boring between Cantonment Metro station and Pottery Town which would take atleast 6 months for completion.
The operation has suffered delay of atleast a fortnight due to heavy rains in Bengaluru. The Chinese-made Urja emerged at ground level in the presence of CM Basavaraj Bommai on September 22 this year after completing 855 metres in 419 days between Cantonment and Shivaji Nagar. All the TBMs are being deployed to build a 13.8-km Underground Corridor in the Nagawara-Kalena Agrahara (Gottigere) Line running to 21.26 km.
According to a senior Metro official, Urja was dismantled and transported by road using trailers to Cantonment again. It also encountered a minor mishap when a part of the machine brushed against the vertical column of the Trinity Metro station on MG Road on November 18 in the wee hours, which was reported exclusively by TNIE.
“Urja, which totally weighs nearly 500 tonnes, was fully reassembled over a period of 45 days at 60 feet below the ground. Over 100 men will be involved in carrying out the tunnelling,” he said. Larsen & Turbo has been contracted with the job.
So what are the other TBMs upto?
Three of them have already completed their tunnelling work. Vindhya which was also tunnelling in the similar direction of Urja completed its job on October 13 and is presently being dismantled. “It will also follow in the new route of Urja after it covers some distance,” the official said. Rudra has completed tunnelling from South Ramp to Diary Circle while Varada has completed its job from Vellara Junction to Langford, a stretch of 650 metres.
These are the machines still drilling below the ground: Tunga and Bhadra are drilling along the 860 metre stretch from Venkateshpura to Tannery Road, Avni and Lavi are drilling parallelly from Shivaji Nagar to MG Road, a distance of 1185 metres. “Avni has completed 1125 metres and will soon have a breakthrough while Lavi has completed over 800 metres so far,” another official said. official said. Vanika drilling from South Ramp to Diary Circle could achieve its breakthrough next month or early February,” he added.