China produces 4,800 tons of roadheaders

China's largest self-drilling mud-digging machine, 135 meters long, is used to build a 3.6-kilometer tunnel in Shenzhen.

The new tunnel excavator is the largest in China.(Photo: Xinhua).

China's biggest mud-drilling (TNM) excavator leaves the production line in Zhengzhou, the capital of Ha Nam province, on September 29, according to Xinhua. The Chunfeng machine is 15.8 meters in diameter, 4,800 tons and 135 meters long.

The machine developed by China Railway Engineering Equipment Company (CREG) will be used to open the tunnel in the southern city of Shenzhen.'Geological conditions inside the tunnel are very complicated and it is expected that the tunneling machine will run through the 3.6km long rock layer , ' said Ye Chao, an engineer at CREG's design institute. 'We have created a special design to address problems and reduce risk'.

The roadheader unleashes the soil with a circular cross-section through various layers of rock and scatters partially to build tunnels, subway lines or sewers. CREG is the world's leading supplier of tunneling machines. As of June 2018, the company signed 788 contracts for tunneling production for projects, 656 of which were in other countries.