Bharat Rakshak

Metro Rail Guy has posted a "September 1 Tunneling Update" for Bangalore's metro with the progress made by each TBM. Phase 1 will finally end when 3 TBMs will breakthrough at Majestic station and 1 at the north ramp, one after the other, from October to March 2016.

TBM tunneling direction:



Link to update: http://themetrorailguy.com/2015/09/02/b ... ing-update

Rohit_K wrote:A TBM quietly made a breakthrough at Chennai's AG-DMS/Gemini station from Teynampet yesterday. With this, the tunnels between Saidapet to Gemini are complete.

[img]https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-x ... e=567F4D00

wasn't this too close to the corner pillar?

It looks precariously close, but looking at the neat cut-out on the left side of the circumference, that is what they intended. After building the reinforced concrete wall, they purposely drill/carve the "eye" of the tunnel to make sure the TBM makes a perfect cutout on impact.

See the following videos. The TBMs' impact looks awfully close to the wall/corner pillar, but it's fine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VREGDGq2fJI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfGiBYkNuCY

After the TBM finishes its job and installs all the segments to line the tunnel, the tunnel at the mouth of the station will look like this:
http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dyna ... 09421f.jpg

Pathological liar Pratap Singh Khairola MD, Bangalore Metro has released another gas bomb and obvious lie.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/ban ... 603561.ece

He claims Phase I will begin March 2016. The situation today is Krishna that has emerged needs to tunnel 730m to reach Majestic. It has been announced it will rest for 45 days to re-furbish the cutters and do maintenance and it has to be dragged to the other side of Chikpet station to start it's drive. Kaveri 400m to reach Majestic. Godavari is still not tunneling after the cutter head replacement, needs to tunnel 640m. Margarita has to tunnel 200m. Tunneling all this will take 6 months at a very, very optimistic level, the past is not very encouraging. After tunneling, Bangalore Metro takes 1.5 years to install rails, and the third rail and Signalling and telecom equipment in the tunnels. This is what it did on the East-west route. After that come trial runs, and certification process by CRS, Southern zone. This will take some more time. I think Phase I will open May 2017.
Also the underground stations in the North-South route are very far from being complete, yet this bald faced serial liar is at it again and the journos simply cannot ask the right questions. The easiest one is sir, it took 20 months to tunnel 432m and you have gazillion meters left, how you can do?
Delhi Metro is partly to blame for the woes of Bangalore Metro. DMRC was fully pre-occupied with the CWG games and did an improper DPR for Bangalore Metro. For example they recommended only 2 TBM's, and of the wrong type. There is a pointed exchange on record between Srisailam, former MD before Kharola of Bangalore Metro and Sreedharan. Bangalore Metro had to re-work the nonsensical DPR provided by DMRC. In the end 6 TBM's( east ramp was done by a TBM rented from Delhi metro) were employed and NATM( New Austrian Tunneling method) for the west ramp. Margarita and Helen used on East-West tunnels, east end ramp done by another rented TBM from DMRC let's call it Dara Singh. West end tunnel ramp tunneled by NATM method. North-South, Godavari between Sampige Rd/Mantri Mall and Majestic. Was supposed to do both tunnels. Got stuck. Margarita was requisitioned to bail Godavari out and dig the second tunnel.
East-West and North South tunneling companies are different. Helen was sent to Jaipur. The other TBM's working in South Bangalore are Krishna and Kaveri.

Also it looks like the geo-technical survey was improperly done. You should be aware of the ground conditions every 30m at the outset. People have done extensive seismic studies of Bangalore since the early 2000's, and boreholes to 12m depth were dug. So it is strange that even such a survey was not used as a preliminary model. OK back to all sorts of pictures of Lucknau and Cawnpore metro, two cities in the world where if you leave me blindfolded anywhere I can still go to Moolganj, Kanpur

Look at this study and pg. 50 in particular and where they sank boreholes, shows you the location of the boreholes in Bangalore city, man this dates before Namma Metro. The article was published the year they started the Namma metro project 2008.

http://civil.iisc.ernet.in/~microzonati ... /NCW-3.pdf

The same article published in 2008 in a journal. This is the problem with India. left hand and right hand have no connection.

http://www.ias.ac.in/jess/nov2008/jess131.pdf

vsunder wrote: Delhi Metro is partly to blame for the woes of Bangalore Metro. DMRC was fully pre-occupied with the CWG games and did an improper DPR for Bangalore Metro. For example they recommended only 2 TBM's, and of the wrong type. There is a pointed exchange on record between Srisailam, former MD before Kharola of Bangalore Metro and Sreedharan. Bangalore Metro had to re-work the nonsensical DPR provided by DMRC. In the end 5 TBM's( east ramp was done by a TBM rented from Delhi metro) were employed and NATM( New Austrian Tunneling method) for the west ramp. Also it looks like the geo-technical survey was improperly done. .....
http://civil.iisc.ernet.in/~microzonati ... /NCW-3.pdf

Exactly! No one believed me when I pointed this out couple of pages back.

just asking.. a TBM job for dual track is more economical than tunneling for a single track?

If they double the diameter of the TBM to achieve that, then it'll lead to an unwarranted excess of space towards the top. I don't believe that would be economical. Transporting it on-site and deploying it within the confines of the minimal station/shaft area will pose issues of its own.

For shorter distances, the New Austrian Tunneling Method can be used, like in this case in Delhi:



Read about and see more pics: http://themetrorailguy.com/2015/08/26/n ... -complete/

SaiK wrote:just asking.. a TBM job for dual track is more economical than tunneling for a single track?

Rohit_K is right, just one nit-pick, its a chord *not* diameter of the circle. Hope this will be helpful:

^well, in this case it would be quadruple as I can have two tier of dual tracks, if you purely go by geometry. have one on the diameter to go perhaps 2+3 tracks.

so, with one giant TBM, it is cost effective if we jump to 5 tracks... just hypothetical only

^^ Ask the city of Seattle. They tried doing a double-decker road tunnel and the TBM gave up last year and hasn't recovered yet

It was stuck not because of the big machine itself but because it hit a large metal pipe that wasn't either disclosed to the tunnelers or was failed to be removed before the TBM reached its location.

>>JEM saab and others.. why should India lag behind.

Boss, I'll be the last one to say that. I was just expressing amazement at how far our country has come in so short a time after a millennium of foreign ideological impositions on the civilisation. In just a tenth of that time, we'll be again reasonably well positioned. We should begin to see India as the capital of our new country - the world - and begin to softly talk about how we must all live together under a pluralistic, representative, eclectic system, without exclusivism, and without absolutism. But that's another topic for another thread.

Kochi Metro's rolling stock design has been released. The first coach will be delivered in 3 months



more views on the metro rail guy: http://themetrorailguy.com/2015/09/03/k ... o-unveiled

Hitesh wrote:It was stuck not because of the big machine itself but because it hit a large metal pipe that wasn't either disclosed to the tunnelers or was failed to be removed before the TBM reached its location.

True, but it just points to the complexity of the tunnel method itself. And there were reports that this pipe was one of the drilled pipes left over from the soil sample phase of this very project. If true, shows the kind of coordination that we bemoan of in Indic lands happens in khanate as well. Anyway, OT here.

vsunder wrote:Tunneling all this will take 6 months at a very, very optimistic level, the past is not very encouraging. After tunneling, Bangalore Metro takes 1.5 years to install rails, and the third rail and Signalling and telecom equipment in the tunnels.

Don't they also need to build cross tunnels for evacuation purposes? I understand that adds to the time *after* the TBM has tunneled and installed the concrete rings. And being the first underground section in Namma Metro, testing will take more time than subsequent ones, I would guess.

arshyam wrote:
Don't they also need to build cross tunnels for evacuation purposes? I understand that adds to the time *after* the TBM has tunneled and installed the concrete rings. And being the first underground section in Namma Metro, testing will take more time than subsequent ones, I would guess.

Yes they have cross-passages every 300m on the East-West tunnels. The East-West tunnels were done a while back, March 18th 2014 was the final breakthrough on East-West tunnels. Since then they have been installing rails, the third rail and signalling equipment, fixing the stations etc. The West bound line is done. The East bound line, third rail installation is left on about 15% of track. The tracks are done. The hope is the trial runs will start in the UG section east-West in December. Trains will not stop at Majestic the Interchange between East-West and North-South lines as that station is far from complete. It will need approval from CRS for such train movement through an underground construction zone, which is the central hub of Namma Metro.

It is the North-South route that is the problem. Due to money issues BMRC split the North-South part from the East-West part and then gave out these contracts well after the overhead contracts were awarded. UG contracts should have been awarded first. They are repeating this mistake in Phase II also. The North South tunnels are not complete and so the crossovers are meaningless for the moment, 2km of tunneling left.
Interestingly the East-West tunnels were cut using slurry TBM's Helen and Margarita, while the NS tunnels are being cut using EPB TBM's ( earth pressure balance machines). Also the NS guys did not get started with their act fast enough. Because the central slurry plant is at majestic circle opposite City station, both Helen and Margarita were launched from there, slurry being pumped all the way back from even Cubbon Park to Majestic and now from 220 m from Mantri Mall to Majestic. The EPB machines have no such issues.
So as as they go forward presumably you can work on the sections cut open behind.

Regarding trials, perhaps they can say we have trains running on the east-West route UG so the trials NS whenever they happen can be curtailed, but will the CRS buy that?

The overground 4th reach of South Bangalore is now in limbo with stations 99% complete. The depot is in North Bangalore and the tunnels incomplete. BMRCL is trying to hoist a train onto the tracks in South Bangalore. But then these trains will have no access to a depot and pit line for washing and maintenance.
Secondly it needs CRS approval for such Kabbadi. The other plan I can sense is that having one UG tunnel North-South built quickly and then move the Trains back at night through the tunnel by a shunter back to the depot in the North for cleaning. In fact the North bound tunnel had Krishna in the South crawling and Margarita helping out beyond Majestic. So when Kaveri did the parallel South bound tunnel faster than Krishna and arrived at Chickpet station before Krishna. They switched Kaveri to the North bound side.
So what I am suggesting seems a game plan. Who knows what kushti and kabbadi goes on there. But don't be surprised if what I write here comes true.

They are already doing this east-west. They want to start Reach 2 Magadi rd to Nayndahalli in September.
They bring the trains back at night through the completed( at least there are rails so they can use a shunter UG as switching on third rail may be dangerous with construction still going on) but not operational UG EW section back to Bypanahalli depot in the East for washing and maintenance. But eventually these trains come December will be passing through an active construction site at Majestic if approval is given for the entire EW line. Bottom line North South after the switching Kaveri to the Krishna side at Chikpet, we have

Line A(North South) Machines Kaveri( 400m for final breakthrough)+ Margarita( 220m for final breakthrough)=total=620m

Line B( North South) Krishna not yet working resting for 45 days but 740m for final breakthrough+Godavari also resting and hopefully will start in a week, 640m for final breakthrough=total=1.38km

arshyam wrote:^^ Ask the city of Seattle. They tried doing a double-decker road tunnel and the TBM gave up last year and hasn't recovered yet

I didn't read anything negative on the wiki except for env issues. I read 2019 deadline

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JEM, I am reporting your post!


to good post dhaaga

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_tra ... Metro_rail
if we look at this table, delhi is the only place we are seriously considering so many lines. chennai data is poor or perhaps they don't need multiple metro lines.

Rohit_K wrote:Kochi Metro's rolling stock design has been released. The first coach will be delivered in 3 months
<snip inline pic for quote>
more views on the metro rail guy: http://themetrorailguy.com/2015/09/03/k ... o-unveiled

Looks like the Chennai Metro one, but with a different coloured fascia. Are they both the same model ?

Suraj wrote:

Rohit_K wrote:Kochi Metro's rolling stock design has been released. The first coach will be delivered in 3 months
<snip inline pic for quote>
more views on the metro rail guy: http://themetrorailguy.com/2015/09/03/k ... o-unveiled

Looks like the Chennai Metro one, but with a different coloured fascia. Are they both the same model ?

Cannot really be the same model. Kochi metro like Bangalore is third rail 750V DC, see my posts on regenerative braking in IR thread and DC opposed to AC. Chennai Metro is overhead wires 25KV AC with pantograph. Also note in the IR thread on CBC couplers that WAP-7 from RYP(Royapuram shed) had roof mounted rheostat brakers so that excess current can be dissipated away as heat through the resistance.

aah, so much power wasted! they could have used the heat (thermoelectric?) to charge some li-pol batteries.

i read recently a canadian co has some nano tech for thermoelectric conversion with high efficiency

vsunder wrote:Interestingly the East-West tunnels were cut using slurry TBM's Helen and Margarita, while the NS tunnels are being cut using EPB TBM's ( earth pressure balance machines).

Does the Geology of Bengluru vary so much that they needed 2 different machines? I always thought that this was Dharwar Shield Craton and quite consistent. Just curious why this decision was made.

theo, it is in closepet granite (CG). the land mass of bengaluru in sandwiched between E & W DSC. although it is only a thin stretch from deccan trap.

ps: correction.. I think proper bangalore in E DSC, but the larger bangalore (towards west) falls in CG.

but granite distribution near these zones cannot be accurate, and you will definitely find large boulders here and there. for example, the jayanagar 3rd block elephant rock, ragi-gudda, etc all western. CG runs towards N, and NW towards raichur/bijapur.

Theo: The answer to all your questions is the excellent research paper that I have linked a few posts above. Seismic Micronization of Bangalore by Anbhagazan and Sitharaman. Open the second of the two links. That is the paper as it appeared in the journal and the plates are in color. Look at Table 1, on page 8, journal page 840. It displays the strata at various depths, NE, SE,NW and SW of Bangalore. On the average hard rock is reached at 25m. There is also a 3D illustration of the various depths to which drilling was done to find samples. It is a marvellous document and I fear fanbois are more interested in fotus and will not read it.

There are other very telling things in that study. For example at what frequencies things start to go haywire for earthquakes in Bangalore. So the same for TBM, you would know if I operate it at X rpm, then the vibrations are at Y Hz no? So I can only operate it at Z rpm under the warren of streets called Chikpete, where the buildings date back to Thimma Gowda Pandey compounded by the fact that building inspector Jagadamba Dubey Narasimhayya looked the other way when the house foundation was done in 1879. So now if I operate the TBM at Z rpm then I can only advance y_0 m every day and so the tunneling can be done in s_0 days. Well if even a layman and ignoramus like me can go through this exercise, Bangalore with it's ITvity masters of the Yuniverse should do better no?

The great thing about the EW tunneling is the multitude of pictures posted by the Thai operators of the machines. In those pics one sees so well the rich geology under Bangalore. Snakes of quartz through granite and all sorts of amazing things. As I have said NS, the tunnel operators did not post any pics. They were all Indian crew. The Indian company also tied in with Herrenknecht a leading TBM company who advocates EPB machines. Remember I said two different companies did the two segments. Prof. Herrenknecht is a leader in TBM technology and has even a book on the subject, a monumental book. To maintain the pressure at the head and thus the balance, one has the slurry method and the EPB method. EPB machine operators claim that their method is best for wet, unstable soil. It was used for the Channel tunnel. If a determination was made that it was the best method under the rabbit warren of Chikpet then they took that option. EW, the tunnel route does go under boulevards and few buildings, maybe no building. Krishna for example got stuck under the Bangalore meat market. For a long time there was a fear that they would have to dig a shaft there and have various elements of Indian society burn Bangalore down. But it seems they extricated themselves from that. Then they claim they had to be precise and not go underneath the piers of the Sirsi flyover on Mysore road, but between them. OK granted that. But all this "hard rock, hard rock " is just BS. Gotthard tunnel they encountered really hard rock and the progress was good. The point is to meet with unknown challenges and for sure in tunneling there will be surprises.

vsunder, what is "snakes of quartz" ?

SaiK wrote:vsunder, what is "snakes of quartz" ?

450m from Mantri Mall, 60 feet under there lies a white snake:( Margarita stops at the granite wall it faces after doing well 600 m from Majestic)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost. ... ount=24160

Margarita the most efficient of the Bangalore TBM's has gone 150 m beyond this point in about 5 months,
and has 220m for breathrough at Mantri Mall. And Kharola(BMRC MD) is claiming that Krishna will do all of 730m within 6 months. That pic was posted mid April when Magarita had briefly halted for some maintenance.

Another feature of Bangalore is the number of lakes and water bodies. Many have silted up and dried out. The entire Majestic complex, the main intersecting point of the NS and EW lines is an old lake bed. Hard to imagine the Central bus depot there and now the major station of Namma Metro. Surely raising an UG station here must be challenging.

it could be some form of pressure injection some millions of years ago! in magma->solid state

Kochi rolling stock is one of prettiest I have seen in India. Is this also Chinese?

chacha for it.. Kochi is Alstom Metropolis

^^ Picture reminded me the rolling stock used in CMRL. The link shared by Rohit_K explains it:

The Rolling Stock is being manufactured by Alstom India after they had won the bid to supply 25 train-sets each consisting of 3 cars in August 2014 quoting a price of Rs 633 crore. The 2.9m-wide 65m-long trains can accommodate up to 975 passengers with 140 of them seated. All 75 coaches are currently being assembled at Alstom’s Sri City plant in Andhra Pradesh

Same suppliers as CMRL, so lots of commonalities.

And what's with this constant 'Chinese rolling stock' bogey. Except a few small systems, the bulk are not of Chinese origin, and are assembled within India. Mumbai will grow, of course, but let's see if they stick with the Chinese rolling stock - they were ordered, as Rohit_K put it succinctly, "to-go", so no manufacturing investments have been made in India so far. Hopefully, Mumbai metro either ensures Make/Assemble in India in the future, or orders from Bombardier/BEML/Alstom, all of which have manufacturing facilities in India.

chinese must be denied entry even if they make super duper things for the same cost. @eod, it is all about enmity and business for locals.

Yes, which is why it is concerning that Mumbai metro just ordered 'take-out', or as we say in the south 'parcel' . Mumbai being Mumbai, the metro will grow to be largest in India eventually, or at least rival Delhi in size of operations. That means a huge number of rolling stock, and they should be looking to source it locally. For example, DMRC phase II alone has 614 776 coaches (Source: Bombardier). But Reliance being Reliance, you get only turnkey stuff, no capacity building.

This old Hindu article gives an estimate of how many coaches BEML alone looked to build back in 2005. They supplied 180 coaches to the phase I in 2005/6.

[Added sources and minor edits]

Kochi metro is all French deal only.

If Chandy has the cojones, he should re-open the KHSRL option for connecting the cities N-S in KL, and invite the Chinese in to invest. Kill two birds with one stone.

Slush Shower

It was a proud moment for the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) when their tunnel boring machine ‘Krishna’ emerged at the Chickpet Metro Station on Monday. However, for the private photographer who claimed that he was hired by BMRCL to document the event, it was a close shave as debris mixed with slush fell very close to him, and he was covered by it in no time. A few minutes after the incident, , the photographer was seen with his damaged equipment screaming at the safety engineers there. Site officials, clueless as to what to do, chose to just ignore the photographer after a while.



Namma Metro officials said they had not hired the photographer in question, and that there was no question of giving him compensation as the safety guidelines were clear in the email invite.

source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/k ... 613672.ece

New Images of Gurgaon’s Rapid Metro in Cybercity





Source & more here: http://themetrorailguy.com/2015/09/05/n ... cybercity/

vsunder wrote:East-West and North South tunneling companies are different. Helen was sent to Jaipur. The other TBM's working in South Bangalore are Krishna and Kaveri.

According to the supplier of Jaipur's TBM, The Robbins Company, Jaipur's TBMs came from Delhi -

At the Jaipur Metro, Robbins is supplying two refurbished 6.65 m (21.8 ft) EPBs from previous tunneling on the New Delhi Metro.

source: http://www.therobbinscompany.com/wp-con ... letter.pdf

Delhi Metro's line to Faridabad will begin commercial operations today. Some screenshots from a video at The Metro Rail Guy

/duplicate

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... ne_Map.png


Bangalore should begin planning and funding ORR and PRR based metro lines on massive scale!
Let it just run above or parallel to these roads. earlier the better funds saved for future

Rohit_K wrote:

vsunder wrote:East-West and North South tunneling companies are different. Helen was sent to Jaipur. The other TBM's working in South Bangalore are Krishna and Kaveri.

According to the supplier of Jaipur's TBM, The Robbins Company, Jaipur's TBMs came from Delhi -

At the Jaipur Metro, Robbins is supplying two refurbished 6.65 m (21.8 ft) EPBs from previous tunneling on the New Delhi Metro.

source: http://www.therobbinscompany.com/wp-con ... letter.pdf

Thanks for the update. As I had mentioned earlier and the Robbins site now confirms, once Krishna emerged at Chickpete after taking 20 months to tunnel 432m, Robbins has taken over the management of three TBM's Krishna, Kaveri and Godavari from the Indian company. I hope they infuse the right degree of professionalism for the remaining 2km of tunneling. CEC-Soma still controls Margarita, so now I am curious where Helen went after it finished at Bangalore. The arrangement is unusual, since Herrenknecht built the Earth Pressure Balance TBM's Kaveri, Krishna and Godavari, but now Robbins will take over the TBM's that were not fabricated by it and manage future tunneling operations on Bangalore Metro.

Robbins has rescued a TBM that was stuck in Andhra Pradesh in the Veligonda irrigation project. See Sec 10 in the document below. Also read sec 11 and sec 11.5

http://www.therobbinscompany.com/wp-con ... C_2010.pdf

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a ... 546486.ece

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veligonda_Project

This picture shows exactly what I stated above about Namma Metro. Track work complete on both East West routes, but third rail not fixed on one side. You can see the yellow stack of third rails. Also the Metro Train is moving back through the UG sections to the Bypannahalli depot in East Bangalore after doing it's trial runs in West Bangalore over ground section. This will be the situation till march 2016. Then hopefully East-West UG section will be commissioned two years after final breakthrough by Helen and Margarita on East-West underground section. So NS if tunneling is complete in say May 2016, that means early 2018 for phase I to be fully finished in Bangalore. What a mess.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost. ... ount=26010

PRR is a mirage at the moment.
for ORR only way anything can be done is entirely underground but still plenty of land will be needed overground for multi level car and bike parking, bus stops, auto stands.

blr need a couple of rings to link the spokes...but so far not even in planning phase.

hope my son will enjoy metro on ORR long after I die. right now the govt is not able to build much needed pedestrian skywalks at 100s of busy and dangerous locations claiming no contractor is interested in these small works.