The powerful Herrenknecht slurry shield TBM 'Nayak' will bore through the rocky terrain beneath Sanjay Gandhi National Park as part of the Thane-Borivali twin tunnel project

Mumbai's infrastructure push gets a major boost with the imminent launch of the massive TBM 'Nayak' for the east-west connectivity corridor

The giant 13.34-metre TBM 'Arjuna' stands ready at Thane Manpada, set to be launched on Monday for the 11.84-km Thane-Borivali twin tunnel project that will slash travel time between Thane and Borivali to just 15 minutes

The Thane-Borivali Twin Tunnel is India's longest urban road tunnel project, with a total length of 11.84 km

The project is being implemented by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). It consists of two parallel three-lane tunnels (one in each direction) with a dedicated emergency lane and cross-passages every 300 metres for safety

The tunnels will connect Manpada (Ghodbunder Road) in Thane to Ekta Nagar (Magathane) in Borivali, passing beneath the eco-sensitive Sanjay Gandhi National Park at a depth of around 23 metres

The team behind tunnel boring machines ‘Arjuna’ and ‘Nayak’, which are set to be launched at the Thane Manpada site on Friday

The estimated project cost is approximately Rs 16,600 crore to Rs 18,838 crore, with work likely to be completed by May 2028

Currently, the surface journey between Thane and Borivali takes 60 to 90 minutes due to heavy traffic congestion. Once completed, the twin tunnels will reduce travel time dramatically to just 15 minutes.