The process of lowering all the parts of the third Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) in the launching shaft located at the under-construction Kanpur Central Metro station has been completed. The ‘Tail Shield’, the last part of the TBM, was lowered into the 18-metre deep, 21-metre long and 25-metre wide launching shaft on Saturday. .
The TBM machine is the third machine to be used in the Kanpur Metro Rail project and the first TBM machine to be used on the Kanpur Central-Transport Nagar underground section. With this machine about a 1250-metre tunnel will be constructed in the ‘Upline’ from Kanpur Central to Nayaganj.
In the coming days, another TBM machine will also be lowered in the 4.24 km (approx) long Kanpur Central-Transport Nagar underground section which will do the tunnelling in the ‘downline’.
The process of lowering the TBM machine into the launching shaft of the under-construction Kanpur Central Metro station first began with the lowering of the about 120-ton ‘front shield’, followed by the lowering of the cutterhead, middle shield, screw conveyor etc. lowered under the ground one by one.
After being lowered into the launching shaft all these parts of the TBM will be aligned in the shaft and mechanical components and wires will be connected to complete the machine. After the completion, the TBM machine will be positioned on the ‘upline’ for construction of a 1250-meter-long tunnel, after which it will be launched in the coming days.