On September 14, at the top of the majestic snow-capped mountains of Linzhi, Tibet, the world's first double-structured Rock TBM 'Snow Pioneer' which is independently developed by CREG, a CRHIC subsidiary company, was successfully launched. It is the an exemplary work that for the first time China using Rock TBM to construct a tunnel in the alpine region on the plateau.

With a total length of 38 kilometres, the tunnel is a double-hole single-track tunnel, with an overall north-east to south-west alignment, an inlet elevation of 3,158 metres and an outlet elevation of 2,969 metres. The total length of the inlet section of the tunnel is about 20 kilometres, and the maximum depth of the tunnel is 1,696 metres, which is a long and deep tunnel with high ground stress rock burst. The tunnel faces many problems such as large deformation of soft rock, 12 fault zones, high-intensity earthquake, high ground temperature, sudden surge of water and hard rock strength up to 196 MPa.

Disc diameter of 'Snow Pioneer' is 10.3 meters, with a maximum thrust of about 2,759t, a maximum torque of 26,256kNm. The overall length of machine is about 210m and a weight of about 2,500t.

CREG has long been committed to the design, development and manufacture of underground engineering equipment, especially in the field of rock tunnel boring machines, and has always been leading the technical development of the industry, many innovative products such as high-pressure hydraulic coupling rock-breaking TBM, ultra-small turning radius TBM, the world's largest diameter TBM create a precedent in the industry. It has accumulated advanced design concepts and rich construction experience.