By Rose Bell
In order to paving the way for construction of a 21km-long tunnel between Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) and Shilphata in Maharashtra, a 394m-long adit has been excavated for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train Project.
Providing simultaneous access for tunneling 1.6m on each side, the 26m-deep inclined adit is due to facilitate construction of 3.3km of tunnel through NATM. Construction of the 16km of the 21km tunnel will be done using 13.6m diameters TBMs, while the used method for building of remaining 5km will be NATM. The adit will allow vehicular access to the main tunnel during construction.
The commencing date of digging process for the adit was December last year and a total of 214 controlled blasts were carried out using 27,515kg of explosives.
While the BKC, Vikhroli and Sawli are the locations that shafts are currently being built for the bored section of the tunnel, a 7km stretch is going to be extend beneath the sea at Thane Creek.
Considering that in order to forming 7,441 rings, the 16km section will require 76,940 segments, each ring will comprise nine curved segments and one key segment, with each segment 2m wide and 0.5m thick
Involving an area of 9.9ha, the casting and stacking yard is currently being launched in Mahape, whereas the yard is slated to feature nine sets of moulds, each containing 10 pieces. Four sets of these moulds have already been installed on-site.
