Bengaluru’s Tunnel Boring Machine Rudra achieves breakthrough six months after getting stuck in garbage pile

The machine, which is one among nine TBMs deployed to build a tunnel network between Dairy Circle and Nagawara, was stuck after encountering a heap of garbage

Tunnel Boring Machine Rudra achieves breakthrough at Lakkasandra on Friday. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) Rudra, which was stuck after encountering a huge pile of garbage 33 feet below the surface, finally made a breakthrough on Friday (April 28). The machine, which burrowed a distance of 745 metres from the Dairy Circle Station to Lakkasandra took 398 days to complete the task.

Prior to tunnelling this stretch, the machine was deployed between South Ramp and Dairy Circle Station to drill a distance of 613 metres.

Rudra is one among the nine TBMs that were deployed by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to build a tunnel network between Dairy Circle and Nagawara. The line is part of the Pink Line between Kalena Agrahara to Nagawara being constructed under phase II of the Namma Metro project.

Last year, in September, the machine faced unusual hurdles. The cutter head of the machine could not move after encountering a huge garbage pile. Later, officials found out that in the 1980s, the area where the machine was stuck used to be a quarry land turned into a landfill. The BMRCL had built a concrete block to facilitate the machine to continue the work and, as a precautionary measure, evacuated several structures. 

Sources in the BMRCL said TBM Rudra would continue tunnelling towards Langford Metro station.