China has completed the production of its largest-diameter domestically developed shield tunneling machine to date in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. Jointly engineered by China Railway Tunnel Group, China Railway No 4 Engineering Group, and China Railway Engineering Equipment Group, the colossal machine boasts an excavation diameter of 16.68 meters, measures 125 meters in length, and weighs roughly 4,800 tonnes. Built for complex underwater projects, it features an atmospheric-pressure cutterhead enabling safe cutter replacement under eight bars of high pressure, alongside an out-of-chamber crushing and slurry discharge mechanism that minimizes direct maintenance hazards. Despite its immense scale, the machine integrates hydraulically floating supports and high-precision navigation systems to execute agile, small-radius turns on steep slopes, reinforcing China’s self-reliance in executing demanding mega-scale infrastructure such as deep cross-river railway tunnels.
China Rolls Out Its Largest Homegrown Shield Tunneling Machine in Zhengzhou
By Kusak ve Yol