On July 32, 2024, the world’s first green TBM “CREC 1237” was successfully launched at the Taormina Section of the High-speed Railway Tunnel Project on the Island of Sicily in Italy. 

The Project involves two sections, of which, “CREC 1237” TBM applied at the 4.9km-long Taormina Section has the largest burial depth of 200m, mainly crossing clay, sand and sand rock strata. In addition, the overall settlement control of the equipment is demanding given that the clay in strata crossed by the equipment have extremely poor permeability, combined with shallow buried sections.

“CREC 1237” TBM is a new equipment developed by China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd. (CREG) under CRHIC in response to the demand of the overseas market, taking into account relevant European standards. It is also the first TBM in the industry applying green concept. With an excavation diameter of 9.16m, an overall length of 135m and a total weight approximately 1,900 tons, “CREC 1237” TBM is “intelligent controllable” and “low-carbon and eco-friendly”. The automatic intelligent management system of the equipment enables the best match between excavation efficiency and energy consumption during construction, and the energy consumption and emissions are about 20% lower than those of the same level of conventional TBM. The application of new intelligent management system further reduces the cost of tunnel construction and achieves the goal of energy saving and emission reduction.