On Wednesday (September 4), the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) ‘Tunga’ made a successful breakthrough at Nagavara, marking a major milestone for the Pink Line metro project in Bengaluru.
After seven months of work, Tunga completed the fourth and final tunneling run, completing 936.6 meters from KG Halli to Nagavara.
The breakthrough marks the 25th of 26 tunnels for the 21.26 km long Pink Line, which runs from Karena Agrahara to Nagavara and includes 12 underground and six above-ground stations. The line is expected to be operational by December 2025.
Tunga is the eighth Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) to have completed work on the Pink Line, after Urja, Varada, Avni, Ravi, Vindhya, Vamika, and Rudra TBMs. It began its journey from KG Halli on February 3, 2024, and resurfaced at Nagavara South open pit at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
With this latest progress, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) has announced that 98 percent of the Pink Line’s 20,992-metre-long tunnel tube is complete, with 20,582.7 meters now completed, reported the Financial Express.
The ninth and final TBM, Bhadra, is currently digging a parallel tunnel from KG Halli to Nagavara. With 529.7 meters remaining, a senior BMRCL official confirmed that Bhadra is expected to complete the work by the end of October.