Parts of the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) which will dig Mumbai’s newest twin tunnels – a 3.9 km underground link traversing between Malad’s Mindspace and Charkop in Kandivali – are set to arrive in Mumbai by December, marking a major step forward in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) second phase of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project.

The BMC has launched excavation and piling work in Charkop to construct a shaft to lower the TBM machinery.

Eyeing an alternate north-south corridor for motorists, the Mumbai civic body is executing work on the second phase of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project, which entails a 22.93 km high-speed corridor linking Versova and Dahisar.

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The project is categorised into seven packages that encompass elevated roads, cable-stayed bridges and over ten interchanges.

A crucial segment of the corridor is the twin tunnels, which will be dug using TBM machinery, to link Malad’s Mindspace and Kandivali’s Charkop area. The two tunnels, being constructed as part of the project’s Package C and D, will run beneath the densely populated belt in North Mumbai.

A crucial segment of the corridor is the twin tunnels, which will be dug using TBM machinery

Slated to run parallelly at a length of 3.9 km, the tunnels are designed to have three lanes each and five cross-passage corridors on each side. The BMC is set to deploy two TBM machines, estimated to have an external diameter of 15.70 metres and run approximately 40 metres beneath the ground.

Senior BMC officials, including chief engineers from the bridge department and the Additional Municipal Commissioner, Abhijit Bangar, conducted a site inspection in Charkop where the civic body has started work on excavating a 65 metres*40 metres land parcel.

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BMC will then begin the construction of the shaft. A launching shaft is the site where the TBM machines will be lowered and the point from which the machinery will commence the tunnel digging.

“After the spare parts of the first TBM machine arrive, work on the assembly of the TBM will be carried out. The target is to launch and start the digging of tunnels next month after the parts arrive. Meanwhile, the BMC is hoping to complete assembly and digging of the second tunnel by June 2027,” a senior BMC official said on Wednesday.

Of the tunnel’s total length of 3.9 km, the TBMs will dig a total distance of 3 km, while nearly 700 metres will feature a cut-and-cover rectangular box design.