It will take three and a half months to remove the tunnel boring machine It will take three and a half months to remove the tunnel boring machine

Under the Coastal Road Project, the work of digging two huge tunnels has been completed. It will take three to three-and-a-half months to remove the Chinese-made tunnel boring machine weighing 2,800 tonnes and standing as high as four storeys. The leading edge blades of this TBM, which consists of five large sections, have been removed.

Mumbai Coastal Road Project is an ambitious project of Mumbai Municipality. The road is being constructed by the municipality from Princes Street at Marine Drive to the southern end of the Bandra-Worli Sealink. The length of this road is 10.58 km. Two huge tunnels have been dug under this project. The tunnels were excavated by massive TBMs specially brought from China. This work started on 11 January 2021. Excavation of the first tunnel was completed on 10 January 2022. Excavation of the second tunnel was started from 1 April 2022.

However, the excavation was delayed due to a malfunction that occurred while the excavation was in progress. On 30 May 2023, the giant tunneling machine broke through the ground and the excavation was completed. Although the tunneling work has been completed, it will take three to three and a half months to remove the TBM from the project site.

There are total 5 major parts of this machine. Its front is sharp blades that cut the ground. Then there is a circular shield and three other loose parts. The officer of this department gave the information that parts of the blades have been removed from it. It will take about three and a half months to remove the rest. Meanwhile this machine is owned by the road construction contractor. The official clarified that the concerned company will take the decision whether to send this machine to China or to use it for a project elsewhere in the country.

Getting the machine underground is a big challenge
It was a big challenge to take this machine brought from China underground during the lockdown. Several feet of excavation was done to get this machine into the ground. It is the largest diameter TBM used in India.

It has a diameter of 12.19 meters, a height of about a four-story building, a length of 80 meters and a weight of about 2 thousand 800 tons. The weight of machinery used with it is about 600 tons. The blades at the front of this machine can rotate 2.6 times in a minute.