The Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) Urja on Wednesday, September 22, completed drilling 855 metres for phase 2 of Bengaluru’s metro, from Cantonment station to Shivajinagar. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, other ministers and senior Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) officials were present when the machine made its breakthrough. The TBM Urja—deputed by Larsen and Toubro—is the first machine to complete drilling in the city’s longest underground Namma Metro route from Dairy Circle to Nagawara. The machine started work on July 30, 2020 in the presence of the then CM BS Yediyurappa.
“After completing 855 metres of tunnelling, Tunnel Boring Machine Urja achieved a breakthrough at the North end of Shivajinagar station on September 22,” a statement by the BMRCL said. It also mentioned that nine TBMs have been deputed to complete the drilling of the corridor.
The underground route is a part of the new line from Gottigere to Nagawara proposed in Phase 2 of the metro project. It consists of 7.5 km of an elevated corridor and 13.76 km of an underground corridor, with 12 stations and nearly 22 km of tunnels. The route of the underground corridor has been divided into four sections. TBM Urja will also be tunnelling a route from the Cantonment station to the New Pottery Town station. This line, which will run through the heart of the city, will ensure complete metro connectivity to the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru when it is complete.
The rail corporation in their statement also said that the machine had completed the job “under the most difficult geological conditions and below the oldest settlements of Bengaluru”.
Three TBMs—Rudra, Vamika and Varada—are deployed for tunnelling work from South Ramp near the Jayanagar fire station up to the Rashtriya Military School junction. Meanwhile, two machines—Avani and Lavi—are tunnelling from the Military school to the Shivajinagar station. The Urja and Vindhya TBMs have been deputed to drill for the underground station routes from Shivaji Nagar to Tannery Road, while the machines Tunga and Bhadra have been deployed to tunnel a length of 4.59 km from Tannery Road to Nagawara.