An ultra-large-diameter tunnel boring machine (TBM) with a panda pattern painted on its cutter rolled off the production line at CRCHI Second Industrial Park in Changsha, Central China's Hunan Province, on July 10.
Named "Jinxiu", meaning splendid and beautiful, the 135-meter and 3,000-ton TBM has an installed capacity of 7,500 kilowatts and an excavation diameter of 12.79 meters, the largest of the earth pressure balance machines (EPBM) with complete proprietary intellectual property rights in China.
Led by China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Corporation Ltd. (CRCHI) and China Railway 14th Bureau Group Co., Ltd., development of the TBM is expected to support long railway tunnel engineering in the country and strengthen manufacturing capacity of domestically-developed tunneling equipment.
It's worth mentioning that the panda pattern on the cutter is quite eye-catching and has won the TBM the comment as "the cutest China-made machine".
The TBM will play a role in the construction of the Jinxiu Tunnel of Chengdu-Zigong high-speed railway in Southwest China's Sichuan Province.
The Chengdu-Zigong stretch is a key section of Beijing-Kunming railway - an artery of China's "eight vertical and eight horizontal" trunk railway lines that comprise the national high-speed railway service network and is the first high-speed railway in the region to reach the speed of 350 kilometers per hour.
Once operational, the railway will improve the transportation network between Chengdu and Chongqing and will make it easier for people to travel within the region.
China's largest-diameter EPBM, with a panda pattern painted on its cutter, rolls off the production line at CRCHI Second Industrial Park in Changsha, Hunan Province, on July 10. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
(Executive editor: Niu Yilin)
