Preparations are in full swing for the deployment of a tunnel boring machine (TBM) to be assembled for the construction of metro stations in Ramlila Maidan near the crossing section for the Agra Metro Rail project.

Sushil Kumar, general manager of Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC), said: "The TBM will operate in automatic mode, which is quite interesting as the machine works several meters deep in the ground and there is little room for error." The route is predetermined automatically by entering the location coordinates and the TPM follows that route for tunnel construction.

"As the cutting head moves forward to cut the debris and initiate movement, the last part of the drill, called the ring erector, erects ring segments in a circular motion, creating a tunnel," a press statement said. from the UPMRC.

“This whole process is all the more interesting because there is only one window for launching the TBM, i.e. the launch shaft at the start and the retrieval shaft at the end, and in between the movement of the TBM must be ensured with pinpoint accuracy. ' said the release.

The TBM usually places 10-14 rings per day and the length of each ring is 1.4 m; so it moves a distance of 14-20 meters per day.

There are seven metro stations for Agra Metro Rail Project which will use TBM machines for tunnel construction.