Recently, the large-diameter slurry TBM jointly developed by China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd. (CREG) successfully rolled off.

The slurry TBM has a total length of 124m, and is equipped with cutter head with an excavation diameter of 10.49m. It features a series of innovative design: 5-meter telescopic main drive applied for the first time on the 10-meter slurry TBM, adopting “spiral conveyor with dilution box +air cushion direct discharge” double channel de-slagging mode, rubber coated trailer wheelset, and anti-skid system, thereby guaranteeing the safety of steep gradient operation. These innovative technologies significantly enhance construction efficiency and operational safety while ensuring an improved worksite environment.

This equipment is used for tunneling under complex geological conditions, mainly passing through weakly weathered granite and sandstone strata. There is a “V”-shaped slope section formed by the downhill with a maximum longitudinal slope of 79.5‰ and the uphill with a maximum longitudinal slope of 59.3‰. Besides, a series of construction problems are required to be settled, such as large burial depth, high water pressure, multiple fracture zones, and 400-meter small curve radius steering.