On Wednesday (4 September), the tunnel boring machine (TBM) ‘Tunga’ successfully broke through at Nagavara, marking a significant milestone for Bangalore’s Pink Line metro project.
Tunga completed the 936.6-metre tunnelling from KG Halli to Nagavara after seven months of work, finishing its fourth and final tunnelling drive.
This breakthrough marks the 25th of 26 tunnelling drives for the 21.26-kilometre Pink Line, which will run from Kalena Agrahara to Nagavara, featuring 12 underground and six elevated stations. The line is expected to be operational by December 2025.
Tunga is the eighth Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) to complete work on the Pink Line, following the earlier completions by TBMs Urja, Varada, Avni, Lavi, Vindhya, Vamika, and Rudra. Tunga began its journey from KG Halli on 3 February 2024 and emerged at Nagavara’s south cut-and-cover shaft at 10:30 am on Wednesday.
With this latest breakthrough, 98 per cent of the Pink Line’s total 20,992 metres of tunnelling has been completed, with 20,582.7 metres now finished, according to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), reports Financial Express.
Bhadra, the ninth and final TBM, is currently boring a parallel tunnel from KG Halli to Nagavara. With 529.7 metres remaining, Bhadra is expected to complete its work by the end of October, a senior BMRCL official confirmed.