The Delhi Metro Museum on Monday introduced a new attraction for the visitors — an eight-feet tall giant steel replica of the cutter head of a tunnel boring machine (TBM) — aka ‘mole’ — which will give the visitors a real-time experience of how these giant machines bore tunnels underground. The new exhibit was unveiled at the Metro Museum in Patel Chowk.
“The eight-foot high model will give the visitors a real-time experience of how these giant machines burrow tunnels underground, which is one of the most important aspects of Metro’s construction activities,” a DMRC spokesperson said.
The museum is housed at the Patel Chowk station of Metro’s line 2 that connects Jahangirpuri to HUDA City Centre. The element of interactivity will be provided by the provision of commentary in English and Hindi, which can be initiated by pressing a separate button. “A separate button has also been provided, through which commentary, both in English and Hindi, narrating the details of the machine can be heard by the visitors. Visitors can also read about the cutter head from a display board installed in front of the exhibit,” the spokesperson added.
The replica, made of steel, was unveiled at a ceremony by DMRC MD Mangu Singh. The Delhi Metro Museum houses exhibits such as working models of trains, souvenirs apart from several pictorial informational panels charting the history of the Metro network. The museum is housed at the Patel Chowk station of Metro’s line 2 that connects Jahangirpuri to HUDA City Centre.
The cutter head of a TBM is a circular structure at the front of the machine which cuts through the soil surface to facilitate the construction of underground tunnels, placing it among the most important components of a TBM.