Surat Metro’s TBM Tapi Records 1st Breakthrough at Labheshwar Chowk

Gulermak – Sam India Builtwell JV on Friday celebrated Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) S94’s first “hidden” breakthrough at Labheshwar Chowk Station of Surat Metro Phase 1 project‘s 22.77 km Line-1 (Sarthana – Dream City).

This new Terratec earth pressure balance (EPB) machine, nicknamed Tapi, had started its first assignment in January 2023 to build the up-line tunnel from Kapodra Station’s western shaft.

From there it traveled roughly 1.5 km west in 12 months to arrive at the unique 4-level Labheshwar Chowk Station’s box where excavation will be carried out only after Tapi and its sister machine (S78 nicknamed TBM Narmada) pass through.

Here’s a cool graphic shared by Gulermak – Sam India Builtwell JV’s Project Manager, Deniz Buyukgokmen, showing the station’s current construction progress and where S94 is currently positioned (seen on the left-side of graphic) within Labheshwar Chowk Station. This unique station will be 30 meters deep consisting of two platform levels and two concourse levels:

Tapi’s sister machine, TBM S78 (Narmada) had arrived here on January 4, and on January 27 breached the station’s western diaphragm wall (seen on the right side of the graphic) to record its second breakthrough.

Unlike TBM S78 which was used in Pune Metro’s Phase 1 project , TBM S94 is a brand new machine and had passed factory acceptance tests (FAT) at Terratec’s Thailand plant in January 2022.

Both S78 and S94 in Surat will build a total of 6 tunnels for the 3.46 km Package CS2 / UG1 which was awarded in March 2021 by Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC). Gulermak – Sam India JV’s scope also includes the construction of 3 stations at Kapodra, Labheshwar Chowk and Central Warehouse.

As shared in the past, both TBMs S94 and S78 will eventually be retrieved from Surat Railway Station’s eastern shaft. As excavation progresses at Labheshwar Chowk and Central Warehouse stations, workers will unearth and dismantle the tunnel rings built by both machines.

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– TMRG