3 min readMumbaiJul 19, 2025 09:03 PM IST
First published on: Jul 19, 2025 at 09:02 PM IST
The ambitious Rs 6,500 crore Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR) is set to witness a key threshold as at least 54 trailers comprising parts of the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), which will bore the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project’s twin tunnels, have arrived from Japan into Mumbai. With the final consignment of the first TBM slated to arrive by next month the work on the tunnel with a diameter of 14.5 metre will begin.
GMLR’s twin TBM tunnels will be amongst the widest road tunnel projects undertaken by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Pegged at a cost of nearly Rs. 6500 crore, the GMLR is an ambitious project which aims to alleviate congestion by linking Goregaon in the western suburbs to Mulund in the eastern suburbs. A crucial part of the GMLR project are the 6.65-km long twin tunnels which will start from Film City in the western suburbs and open near Mulund’s Amar Junction, which currently houses a huge slum pocket.
The GMLR tunnels will surpass the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), covering a complex topography of hillocks, forest and farmlands. The twin tunnels will be built using two TBM machines, which will commence boring from the launching shaft in Film City. Abhijit Bangar, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) confirmed with The Indian Express that trailers containing parts of the first TBM machine started arriving from Japan in late March, this year. “A total of 77 containers carrying parts of the first TBM machine will be arriving in the city. We received the first consignment on March 25. As many as 54 containers have already arrived and the balance of 23 containers will be received in the coming month,” said Bangar.
According to officials, the remaining parts of the TBM machine are expected to arrive by August 15.
Arriving from Japan, the containers are being unloaded at the JNPT port from where the consignments are being ferried in trailers up to the worksite. The parts of the first TBM will be assembled over a period of four months, after all the containers are received.
Gearing up for the process, the civic body is currently undertaking piling works at the Goregaon work site at the launch shaft where the TBM tunnels will be lowered.
Meanwhile, the consignments on the second TBM machine is slated to arrive in the city from December 2025.
Raking beneath the SNGP, the TBMs are slated to dig a 5.30-kilometre tunnel before finally achieving its breakthrough at Mulund’s Amar Nagar Junction, where the other end of the tunnel is proposed to open. Of the total 6.65-km tunnel length, nearly 1.35 km will be made up the approach roads and the box-tunnel, while nearly 5.30 km will comprise the portion dug by the tunnel boring machine.
The GMLR tunnels will surpass the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), covering a complex topography of hillocks, forest and farmlands. (Source: File) 
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