Lion Ocean Tunnel of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link
Release time:
2025-12-24
Abstract
Construction unit: China Railway Tunnel Bureau Group Co., Ltd.
Device Number: ("Kuayue" Tunnel Boring Machine) Herrenknecht
Cutting disc diameter: 11.18 meters
Tunneling length: 9,277 meters
Project Features:
This is China’s first underwater railway tunnel constructed using shield tunneling technology. It marks the first time that large-diameter shield tunneling technology has been applied to the construction of a high-speed railway tunnel beneath water. Moreover, the project innovatively adopted a tunneling method known as “tunneling from opposite directions, underground docking, and in-tunnel dismantling,” setting a pioneering industry standard for precise underwater shield tunneling and in-tunnel dismantling. The tunneling operation was carried out beneath the main channel of the Shiziyang Strait, which is 3,300 meters wide and has a maximum water depth of 26.6 meters, facing a high hydrostatic pressure of 0.67 MPa. The strata traversed consist primarily of argillaceous siltstone and sandstone, interspersed with weak, "tofu-like" geological formations, numerous fault zones, and deeply weathered grooves. Additionally, the tunnel passes through sections with exceptionally shallow burial depths—where the tunnel crown is only 7 to 9 meters above the seabed—posing an extremely high risk of collapse. The project successfully overcame several globally challenging issues, including pressurized cutterhead replacement under water. The comprehensive set of technologies developed during this project has been granted multiple patents and will subsequently be widely applied to more than 250 kilometers of composite-strata shield tunnels across China.
Year of commencement: May 2006
Year of completion: December 2011
More news
