Skip to main content

Mumbai tunnel supply deal for Herrenknecht

German firm Herrenknecht has scored a major order for the Mumbai Coastal Road project in India.
By MJ Woof December 20, 2024 Read time: 2 mins
The Indian ambassador to Germany visited Herrenknecht’s facility at Schwanau in Germany


German firm Herrenknecht has secured the contract to supply the tunnel boring machines (TBMs) for road tunnels at Mumbai Coastal Road Project North.
The new TBMs will be used to drive tunnel stretches for the Versova-Dahisar Link Road in Mumbai. The two Mixshields will each feature a diameter of 15.62m, making them the largest tunnel boring machines in India. 

The Versova-Dahisar Link Road (VDLR) is the second phase of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project (MRCP), spanning a length of 23km. Packages C & D are the two parallel Underground tunneling packages of VDLR project, each extending 3.1km in length. The planned project will connect the suburbs of Versova and Dahisar along Mumbai's western coastline, easing traffic congestion on major routes such as the Western Express Highway. Underground tunnel sections will play a critical role, particularly in connecting sensitive areas such as the city centre and densely built urban regions. The project owner is Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, and the client is Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL).

The two powerful Mixshields are optimally designed for the challenging geological conditions of the region: slightly weathered basalt with a uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of up to 150MPa. The overburden of the tunnels ranges between approximately 13-23m. To ensure safe operations under these conditions, the TBMs are designed for a maximum operating pressure of 5bar. The machines will be manufactured at Herrenknecht's Chennai plant in India, using core components from Schwanau. 

 

 

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Italy road tunnel project excavated
    July 9, 2018
    Italy’s A3 Highway is being upgraded, which will improve transport between Salerno and Calabria. Upgrading Italy’s A3 highway is of prime importance for developing the south of the country and is a project that has been prioritised for construction. The A3 Salerno-Reggio-Calabria highway is a non-toll road managed by ANAS, Italy’s state-owned company that constructs and maintains highways. The route runs a total of 443km, with the road having originally been built between 1966 and 1974. However, the origina
  • Mexico: underwater tunnel in Latin America
    May 8, 2015
    Mexico will benefit from an important new underwater tunnel - Mauro Nogarin writes. The city of Coatzacoalcos is located at the mouth of the river of the same name, in the Gulf of Mexico, 302km from the city of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, in the east end of trans-isthmian corridor and at the southern end of Veracruz State. The city is seeing a key development as currently construction is 85% completed on the first immersed tube, underwater tunnel in Latin America. The reasons why experts chose this type of tunne
  • Contracts awarded for India’s sea crossing
    July 2, 2019
    Further progress is being made with the project to build the 17.2km sea crossing in Mumbai. India.
  • India’s capital highway project will improve transport connections
    October 10, 2017
    Huge numbers of construction machines as well as plant and equipment are working overtime, backed by mammoth manpower, to meet the targeted completion deadline of March 2018 for India’s Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE). The 135km arterial route is being built with six lanes and surrounds India’s National Capital, Delhi, its National Capital Region (NCR) and the industrially developed North Indian states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.