Overview
- TBM Nayak, which was launched Tuesday in Manpada by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and other state leaders, begins excavation for MMRDA’s 11.84‑km Thane–Borivali road link.
- The corridor uses twin tunnels under Sanjay Gandhi National Park with two traffic lanes plus an emergency lane in each tube and cross-passages every 300 metres.
- Nayak is a Herrenknecht single-shield hard‑rock machine with a 13.34‑metre cutter, about 86 metres in length and roughly 2,500 tonnes, and officials expect about 10 metres of excavation per day.
- Four TBMs are planned in total as a second machine named Arjuna is being assembled while the Borivali-side launch waits on relocating about 70 of 572 affected residents at Magathane.
- Once complete, travel between Borivali and Ghodbunder Road is set to fall from 60–90 minutes to about 15 minutes, easing chronic congestion that clogs Ghodbunder Road and shifting an expected 80,000 vehicles a day by 2029.