Agra Metro: First Tunnel Breakthrough Achieved In Record Time Of 77 Days

In a major milestone for Agra Metro Rail Project, TBM 'Yamuna' achieved first breakthrough at Agra Fort Metro Station on Tuesday (25 April).

The 85-metre-long and 450-tonne-weighing tunnel boring machine (TBM) Yamuna, completed the 440-metre-long tunnel connecting the upcoming underground Jama Masjid metro station with Agra Fort metro station in a short span of 77 days.

Sushil Kumar, managing director, Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC) said, “This is the fastest breakthrough (distance travelled by TBM for making tunnel between two stations) achieved by any metro project in the country, in a record 77 days since TBM launch”.

Earlier in February 2023, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath had commissioned two TBMs — Yamuna and Ganga — to build 3 km long tunnel of the 6 km priority corridor between Taj East Gate and Jama Masjid.

The TBM Yamuna, after its first breakthrough at Agra Fort Metro Station, will go on to construct tunnel till Taj Mahal Metro Station.

Similarly, the second TBM Ganga has dug up a more than 100-metre-long parallel tunnel from Ramleela Maidan to Agra Fort.

“The two TBMs are operational. A safe distance between the two TBMs has been maintained as part of safety procedure,” said UPMRC official.

Two Routes

The 29.4 km Agra Metro has two corridors with 27 stations.

The 14 km first corridor between Taj East Gate and Sikandra is now under development and has 13 stations — six elevated and seven underground.

The second corridor to be built between Agra Cantt and Kalindi Vihar in Agra City will be 15.4-km-long and will be completely elevated with 14 stations.

Priority Corridor

The Priority corridor is a 6-km stretch on Corridor 1 and runs from Taj East Gate to Jama Masjid.

It has three elevated metro stations - Taj East Gate, Basai and Fatehabad Road along with three underground metro stations — Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Jama Masjid.

The civil work-related to the elevated stretch was completed when the last U-Girder was erected on 13 March.

Similarly, the UPMRC has already constructed all the three elevated stations of Taj East Gate, Basai and Fatehabad Road.

However, the tunneling work on the priority corridors' 3 km underground section between Taj Mahal and Jama Masjid started only in February 2023.

With the breakthrough of the TBM at Agra Fort station, the commissioning of the Priority Corridor is expected to meet August 2024 deadline.

MD Sushil Kumar said, “This is an important milestone as the first tunnel section out of three sections has been completed. We are striving to commence metro operations six months ahead of schedule — that is March 2024 instead of the actual deadline of August 2024. The three elevated stations and train depot are almost ready. The testing and commissioning of three trains are under progress at the train depot at high-speed test track.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of Agra Metro Project in December 2020.