Mumbai to get largest tunnel boring machine for coastal road work
The city is set to receive its largest tunnel boring machine from China in February to work on part of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) coastal road project.
The tunnel boring machine (TBM) will be 12.19 metre wide, as tall as 4.5 storeys of a building. In comparison, the ongoing Metro construction uses a 7-metre-wide TBM.
The TBM will drill the 3.4-kilometre-long twin tunnels which will partially run under the sea, between Girgaum and Malabar Hill, as part of the 9.98-kilometre-long coastal road between Priyadarshini Park, and the Worli end of Bandra Worli sea link.
Additional municipal commissioner in charge of the coastal road project, Vijay Singhal, said, “The TBM will be imported from China and will arrive in Mumbai in February 2020. Once the machine comes, work on constructing the tunnels will start right away.”
The twin tunnels will enter the ground at Girgaum Chowpatty, go partially below the sea via Malabar Hill, to emerge at Priyadarshini Park.
The total length of each tunnel is 3.4 kilometre long counting the distance of entry and exit routes. Given there will be two 3.4-kilometre-long parallel tunnels, the total distance covered will be 6.8 kilometre.
They will run 25 metre below the surface at Girgaum, and 75 metre below the surface at Malabar Hill.
Each tunnel will be 12 metre wide and will have two traffic lanes of around 3 metre to 3.2 metre width, and an emergency lane.
The minimum life span of the structure is expected to be 100 years.
Once the TBM arrive in Mumbai, work will be completed within 276 days, barring unforeseen delays, according to a senior civic official in charge of the project.
“The TBM will be able to drill through a minimum of 3 metres a day, so to complete the entire planned length of the tunnel, we will need roughly 276 days. This is the newest technology, so the sound and vibrations felt from the boring are minimal,” said the official.
The cost of acquiring the TMB will be borne by Larson and Toubro, the contractor awarded this part of the coastal road package.
Less time to read?
Try Quickreads
-
Suspended IAS officer Pooja Singhal sent to judicial custody till June 8
A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ranchi sent suspended IAS officer Pooja Singhal to judicial custody till June 8 in the mining case. Singhal was in the custody of Enforcement Directorate since her arrest on May 11. The probe agency carried out raids at the premises of Ranchi-based builder Anil Jha and another person named Vishal Chaudhary, news agency ANI had reported.
-
Bihar hooch tragedy: Toll rises to 13
The toll from the suspected hooch tragedy went up to 13 as four more people died in Bihar's Aurangabad late on Tuesday. Aurangabad district magistrate Saurabh Jorwal said the hooch is suspected to have been brought from Jharkhand and supplied to sellers in bordering villages of Gaya and Aurangabad. Gaya's senior police superintendent Harpreet Kaur said Santosh Chaudhary, the alleged main supplier, and his four associates have been arrested.
-
'Why not women?' Karnataka Congress leader slams party over ticket distribution
Karnataka Congress general secretary Kavitha Reddy lashed out at her party for not giving 'fair representation to women' while picking candidates for the June 3 Legislative Council elections, news agency ANI reported Wednesday. In a self-made video, Reddy said that it is 'disturbing' to see that women have not been given representation in the state legislative council. The Congress has announced M Nagaraju Yadav and K Abdul Jabbar as its candidates.
-
PM Modi and Karnataka CM announce ex-gratia for Hubli road accident victims
Eight people were killed and about 26 others were injured in an accident involving a private bus and a truck on the Hubballi-Dharwad bypass road during the early hours of Tuesday, police said. The bus was heading from Kolhapur in Maharashtra to Bengaluru, while the truck was coming in the opposite direction. The incident occurred when the bus driver allegedly lost control while trying to overtake a tractor and hit the truck head-on, police said.
-
Furry tales: Pet parents vs boarding centres
These centres make it easier for pet parents to tend to their travel needs while being assured that their bundle of joy is taken care of. “I have had bad experiences twice at different boarding centres,” shares a Gurugram-based educator, Parul Gupta, who feels that a big challenge that pet parents face while leaving their furry baby, is the temperament issue of other pets residing there.
