On the crisp autumn morning of September 10, the starting ceremony for the first shield machine “Xin·Heliuhao” of Xuzhou subway project was successfully held. At the command of project headquarters, a compound earth pressure balance shield machine whose factory number is S-1009 manufactured by XCMG Kaigong Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “XCMG Kaigong”) was rapidly put into construction. Its “twin brother” opposite it- a shield machine whose factory number is S-1010 will be started in a month. 

Xuzhou Subway Line 1 is an east-west backbone line. It passes through the main east-west development axis of the city, links the old urban area, Bashan area and the new area in the east, and connects three commercial centers in the old urban area- People’s Square, Huaihai Square and Pengcheng Square. It is a hub which connects Xuzhou Railway Station and Xuzhou East Railway Station for Beijing-Shanghai high-speed trains. The construction section of XCMG’s shield machine will include three stations (Xi’an Road Station, Cultural Palace Station, Xuzhou Railway Station), four intervals (Xi’an Road Station-Pengcheng Square Station, Pengcheng Square Station-Cultural Palace Station, Cultural Palace Station-Xuzhou Railway Station, Xuzhou Railway Station-Zhandong Square Station) and one connecting passage. The shield interval is totally 4,710.158m for double lines, runs through the downtown of Xuzhou, and is the interval which features the most complex geological condition and the biggest construction difficulty in Subway Line 1. 

As it passes through bad geological sections such as upper-soft lower-hard stratum, full-section water-rich karst stratum, full-section clay stratum and silt stratum for a long distance and passes through nearly 50 large buildings such as Xuzhou Railway Station, the old Yellow River course and Damalu Bridge along the line, construction risk is huge and requirements for construction products are extremely strict. 

Cutter diameter of the shield machine of XCMG Kaigong is 6.48m. Total length is 86m. Total weight of the shield machine is 450t. It is comprised of 12 parts such as cutter, front shield, middle shield, shield tail, erector, screw conveyor, equipment bridge and back-up trolley. The system is driven by hydraulic power. 10kv high voltage distribution is used. It has many features such as high automation degree, saving manpower, fast construction speed, one-time forming, not being affected by weather and not affecting road traffic on the tunnel top. It can enhance tunneling efficiency by 8-10 times. Manufacturing processes of shield machines in the industry are complicated and involve such technologies as hydraulic, sensing, machinery and laser guiding. Through cooperation with Herrenknecht AG on design and manufacturing, XCMG can customize various tunneling machines such as earth pressure balance shield machines, hard rock tunnel boring machines and slurry balanced shield machines by using the world’s advanced shield machine manufacturing technologies and processes based on geological structure and actual requirements. Technical level and quality stability of its earth pressure balance shield machines reach the world first-class level. Operating efficiency is much higher than same kinds of products of Japan and USA.