China’s largest-diameter TBM rolled off production line

China's largest-diameter tunnel boring machine (TBM) Juli-1 rolled off the production line on October 12 in Changshu, east China's Jiangsu Province. It will be used to excavate the Jiangyin-Jingjiang Yangtze River Tunnel, one of the nation's largest-diameter tunnels built by CCCC.

The TBM has an excavation diameter of 16.09 meters, length of 140 meters and weight of 5,000 tons. Given difficulties and challenges that the tunnel has to pass under many large buildings and areas with complex geological conditions, the TBM independently developed by CCCC is designed to be able to work continuously for as long as 5,000 meters without changing its cutter. It is also equipped with many intelligent systems, so that the whole excavation process can be visible, measurable and controllable.