Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co (STEC) has produced China’s first domestically manufactured TBM earmarked for metro construction, in Shanghai and Beijing initially.
The first of the ‘Xianxinghao’ machines came off the production line in December. Contractors have ordered 22 TBMs for the extensions to the Shanghai metro, delivery of the last is due in May.
STEC chief engineer, Yang Guoxiang, said the machines could dig up to 38m a day, adding the company had “broken the monopoly” on tunnelling equipment in China held by Japanese and European manufacturers.
Guoxiang said the ‘Xianxinghao’ machines cost about US$2.5M, which he claimed was two-thirds the cost and half as expensive as Japanese and European TBMs, respectively.
The firm believes the machines will also be important to Beijing’s metro, which is being expanded to cope with the influx of visitors for the 2008 Olympics.
