[Reporter Zhao Hanqing in front of the Global Network Report] On September 29th, the first super-large diameter (13.19 meters) slurry air pressure balance shield machine independently developed by China for export to overseas high-speed rail was successfully rolled off the production line in China Communications Day and the assembly workshop, and it will be used to promote the "Belt and Road" construction project in Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway and promote the local economic development.
High-speed rail is an advanced means of transportation to facilitate people’s travel, a business card for China and a major project to promote the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative. However, the construction of high-speed rail is not easy, and sometimes it is necessary to dig tunnels to cross obstacles such as river buildings. At this time, a heavy weapon: shield machine is needed.
Shield machine is an artifact of tunneling, which is compared to "pangolin" by the staff of China Communications Tianhe, and is also dubbed "Tuxingsun" by many netizens. The tunnel built with it can help the high-speed rail cross the river, cross the sea and pass through important structures. This shield machine will drill a 1.4-kilometer-long tunnel, which will enable the Indonesian Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway Project to cross the expressway and an airport from underground. The shield machine construction has little impact on the surrounding environment, high precision in ground settlement control, and is safe and fast. In addition, the shield machine can also help the subway to cross various building obstacles and the expressway to cross the river and the sea.
Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway is a demonstration project to promote China high-speed railway to go global, and it is also the first single project for China’s high-speed railway to go global from technical standards, survey and design, engineering construction, equipment manufacturing and material supply to operation management, personnel training and comprehensive development along the line. It connects Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, to Bandung, the fourth largest city, with a total length of 142 kilometers and a design speed of 350 kilometers per hour, which will shorten the driving time between the two places from more than three hours to 40 minutes. The project has attracted the attention of the heads of state of China and Indonesia.
This super-large diameter shield machine took 8 months to complete. The cutter head has a diameter of 13.19 meters, a length of about 101 meters and a weight of more than 2,600 tons. The tunnel dug is enough for two-way high-speed trains to pass. This has also become the first super-large diameter slurry balance shield machine for high-speed rail exported overseas in China. According to reports, only three companies in China can build such a shield machine, and only four companies in the world can build it. Yang Hui, dean of China Communications Tianhe Design and Research Institute, said that they are already familiar with the technology, because they have accumulated technology for eight years before, and these are mature technologies for them.
The technology of CCCC Tianhe is also an innovation that keeps pace with the times. In view of the complex geological conditions, they have designed the shield machine in a targeted manner, and adopted a number of self-created technologies such as appropriate cutter head anti-caking cake design, layered backwashing technology of mud-water system, intelligent anti-settling control technology, automatic control of mud-water circulation system and so on.
Yang Hui said that the technology of shield machine was also blocked by western countries, but this did not hinder their research and development and production. China’s manufacturing industry has a certain technical strength, but the blockade has promoted the localization of many key technologies, and its localization rate has reached 95% at present. China super-large diameter slurry balance shield machine entered the overseas super-large diameter shield market monopolized by developed countries. What is even more proud is that the team that completed the project is a young team with an average age of only 28 years old. Dean Yang himself is a post-85 generation.
Next year, a larger and more complex shield machine will be built for the construction of the river-crossing tunnel in Nanjing, and it will compete with the products of foreign companies. A staff member said that public opinion is often more severe on China enterprises, but he still has confidence in the technology of China Communications and the level of domestic supporting industrial chains.