India arguably has the most potential of any TBM market outside of China, particularly for water diversion, hydroelectric, and metro tunnelling projects. However, the realisation of this TBM potential still requires solutions to some difficult problems.
Savings through subways
The Indian economy (GDP) is growing at a fast clip of approximately 8-10 per cent per year, which translates to a doubling of the economy every 6-7 years. Despite this growth, one of the major hurdles in the country’s development is the lack of infrastructure. Another problem is the fact that India imports more than 80 per cent of its hydrocarbon fuel. This costly practice means that oil imports account for the major expenditure to the national exchequer, or treasury. Good public transportation networks are needed to help keep India’s fuel costs down (with the added benefit of decreasing the carbon footprint). Efficient public transportation is essential for India’s economy, and therefore metro tunnels in major cities are a definite growth area that will see an uptick in the next several years.
Mitigating seasonal monsoons
Another hurdle to overcome and to strengthen financial security is weather-based. pproximately 80 per cent of the Indian populace is agrarian, based in thousands of villages spread across the country. Food security and farming is of utmost importance to maintaining the well being of the majority of Indian people. Unfortunately the wellbeing of farmers is linked to the vagaries of the monsoon—a seasonal deluge that has worsened in recent years. Many farmers see this as a dangerous game of ‘Russian Roulette’. The consistent supply of water for farming is of absolute necessity and is critical for garnering votes in a democracy. The government has no option but to accelerate irrigation schemes and in effect control the water gift the monsoon provides.
Directing fresh water where it is needed, such as in the arid states of Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, is also a challenge. Much of India’s fresh water flows over relatively steep gradients into the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. Dams have been built, but during the monsoons the floodwaters must be disposed of through the gates as reservoirs become full. A logical solution is to carry these floodwaters through controlled head gates and tunnels into balancing reservoirs for storage and use in the summer months. Presently, the water has to be fed back to higher elevations for irrigation at huge energy costs through pumped storage networks. Water transfer projects that mitigate these costs, such as the AMR and Veligonda tunnels that will harness floodwaters from the Srisailam Reservoir and Krishna River, are another essential step in stabilising Indian infrastructure.
Training a growing workforce
India has over one billion people and is growing very fast in all demographics. The stage is set for a huge surge of either employment or unemployment depending on the country’s rate of economic growth. Given the opportunities that the country’s growth has so far presented, it is obvious that there will be more young people with tunneling experience from India and China in the coming years than any from the developed world.
It is foreseeable that in the same way that the Channel Tunnel spawned a generation of great tunnel engineers, the massive infrastructure and river linking projects in India will herald the next generation of experts in tunneling. Robbins currently has close to 100km of tunnels in active operation across the country. The experience gained is evident, as we are now sending people trained in India overseas to projects in the East Asian region and beyond. Within 10 to 15 years, I believe most of the high tech labour for mechanized tunneling will be from India and China.
Remaining challenges
India’s challenges are not unsolvable—they simply require foresight and extra planning by those companies wishing to pursue projects in the Indian market. For example, most of the infrastructure projects in India are governmentowned. The mechanism of allotting jobs by public tender has its flaws when it comes to tunnelling, because there are always unknowns in respect to geology. The risk sharing and contractual flexibility seen in many international tunnelling projects have yet to reach Indian shores. This presents a unique dilemma where all those involved know what that the problem is, but the ‘red tape’ prevents people from fixing the problem.
Another issue standing in the way of successful tunnelling projects is financial. When projects are approved they are based on a financial report that deals with investment and return on investment – which is time-based. Banks charge interest per annum and not per kilometer of tunnel bored. In many cases the choice of the type of TBM to use is based on the notion that ‘simultaneous tunnel boring and lining’ saves time and cost. This often leads to a choice in tunnel boring machine type that is less than ideal or practical.
Lastly, an obstacle affecting the success of many projects is the lack of experienced workers available for training local personnel.
While training has to date been very successful, it can be difficult to get the most experienced people, who are often from Europe or the U.S., to work on a project in a developing country. The tunnel industry is seeing an upsurge worldwide, and many of the best tunneling people can get jobs closer to home. Unfortunately, the result is that some of the largest and most difficult projects, which need good people, don’t always get them.
It is for these reasons, among others, that TBM projects in India have met with mixed success. With such potential and need for infrastructure, however, India is poised to become the next frontier of tunnelling. More and better infrastructure can only help to aid the country in its planned economic growth.
Probe Drilling at Veligonda: Probe drilling operations on a 10m Double Shield TBM for the Veligonda Water Transfer Tunnel in arid Andhra Pradesh state AMR Onsite Assembly: India’s water transfer projects, such as the AMR tunnels, have the potential to harness the country’s floodwaters from seasonal monsoons for irrigation and drinking water Sleemanabad Onsite Assembly: India has much tunneling potential, particularly for urban rail tunnels, hydroelectric tunnels, and water transfer tunnels like the Sleemanabad Tunnel Project New Delhi Breakthrough: Rapidly expanding population and lack of infrastructure make urban rail tunnels, such as the New Delhi Metro project, of paramount importance
