Recently, the right line of Shishan No. 1 Tunnel on the Foshan West Station to Guangzhou North Station section of the Guangzhou-Foshan Circular Line of the Pearl River Delta intercity rail transit (hereinafter referred to as the "Guangfo West Ring") was successfully holed through, marking another phased progress in the construction of the main line of the Guangfo West Ring intercity railway.

The Guangfo West Ring project starts from Foshan West Station, passes through Shishan Town and Lishui Town in Nanhai District of Foshan City, Tanbu Town and Xiuquan Subdistrict in Huadu District of Guangzhou City, and Jianggao Town in Baiyun District, and ends at Guangzhou North Station, with a total length of about 47 kilometers. As the first cross-city intercity railway in the Guangzhou metropolitan area of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, led by Guangzhou, the Guangfo West Ring is an important component of the Pearl River Delta intercity rail transit network. The line has 9 stations in total. In addition to the existing Guangzhou North Station and Foshan West Station, 7 new stations will be built: Shishan East, Dalan, Guanyao South, Hegui, Tanbu, Huadu Port and Shenshan, and an intercity railway vocational training section will be set up in Tanbu. The whole line has 2 shield tunneling sections.

The right line of Shishan No. 1 Tunnel holed through this time has a total length of 4,071.5 meters and was constructed using the 8.8-meter-diameter "Chuxin" earth pressure balance shield machine. The shield machine for this tunnel was launched on June 30, 2023 from the shield launching shaft on the north side of the Guangzhou-Zhaoqing Intercity, and was successfully received on August 30, 2024 at the south end of Shishan East Station. The entire tunneling process took only 14 months, with an average monthly tunneling length of nearly 300 meters. Since the shield launch, in addition to passing beneath a large factory area in Shishan Town over a long distance, the route also involved numerous important buildings and structures along the way, including expressways, high-pressure gas main networks, schools, subway tunnels under construction, gas station oil depots, and reservoir flood discharge areas, and was characterized by a complex crossing environment, long single-run tunneling distance, high proportion of composite strata, and high construction risk.

To ensure the smooth holing-through of this tunnel section, under the guidance of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Transportation and the Foshan Municipal Rail Transit Bureau, Guangzhou Metro Group, together with Guangzhou Railway Group, Foshan Metro Group, Foshan Communications Investment Group and all participating units, jointly planned and closely cooperated, conducted a comprehensive investigation and assessment of existing buildings and structures along the route, invited numerous industry experts to analyze and evaluate the key difficulties and implementation plans of the project, reasonably arranged construction, and improved emergency plans and linkage measures.

During construction, full-process monitoring above and below ground was strictly implemented, and control parameters were continuously optimized and adjusted according to the real-time tunneling conditions of the shield. After the hoisting and launching of the shield machine near the existing Guangzhou-Foshan-Zhaoqing Intercity line, the right tunnel proceeded downward at an extreme gradient of 29.5%, while passing beneath the Foshan high-pressure gas main network at a small clearance. At a position 165 meters after launch, it began to continuously pass beneath and alongside the existing ramp bridge pile group of the Foshan-Qingyuan-Conghua Expressway with a minimum horizontal clearance of about 1.2 meters, and then continuously passed beneath and ran parallel to the main road and toll station of the Foshan-Qingyuan-Conghua Expressway for as long as 3 kilometers. During this process, it also passed beneath key areas such as the tunnel of Foshan Metro Line 4 under construction and a reservoir flood discharge area. Under the premise of ensuring environmental protection and quality, the project successfully achieved "accelerated" construction progress.

As the last piece of the Guangzhou-Foshan Circular Line of the Pearl River Delta intercity network, the Guangfo West Ring is an important mode of cross-city commuting for residents of Guangzhou and Foshan in the future. As of now, the civil engineering works of the project have been completed 48%. After completion, the project will connect Foshan West Station with Guangzhou North Station and the Baiyun Airport area, and through the Pearl River Delta intercity railway network will reach the central urban areas of Guangzhou and Foshan and other cities in the Greater Bay Area. It is of great significance for further enhancing the combined competitiveness of Guangzhou and Foshan and promoting the high-quality development of the Greater Bay Area.