In just one and a half months, the tunnels of Shenzhen Metro Line 9 and Line 11 were successively breached, both caused by illegal construction by external units, affecting normal metro operations. This year alone, Shenzhen has corrected 176 illegal construction activities within metro protection zones, including unregistered construction, lack of approval procedures, and illegal operations during construction. Illegal construction within metro protection zones has posed a serious threat to public safety. How to prevent illegal construction and ensure public safety? Focus
What is a metro safety protection zone?
According to Article 40 of the Shenzhen Urban Rail Transit Operation Management Measures (hereinafter referred to as the Rail Transit Management Measures), for operations within the urban rail transit safety protection zone, except for emergency rescue, the operating unit shall entrust a professional institution to conduct a feasibility assessment of the impact on urban rail transit operation safety and preventive measures for the planning and design scheme and construction scheme. After modifying according to the assessment opinions and obtaining written opinions from the operating unit, it shall be reported to the relevant administrative department for planning and construction permits. Relevant operations include: building or demolishing buildings and structures that have a significant impact on urban rail transit operation safety; engaging in piling, excavation, drilling, blasting, etc.
What is a metro safety protection zone? According to the Rail Transit Management Measures, the safety protection zone includes: within 50 meters outside the outer edge of underground stations (including underground passages) and tunnels; within 30 meters outside the outer edge of ground stations, elevated stations, and track lines; within 10 meters outside the outer edge of buildings (structures) and equipment such as station entrances, ventilation pavilions, substations, follower stations, cooling towers, etc. The operating unit shall prepare a safety protection zone setting plan based on the above regulations and actual conditions, and publish it to the public after approval by the municipal planning and land department.
According to the Rail Transit Management Measures, in case of special geological conditions, the operating unit may apply to expand the urban rail transit safety protection zone. The plan shall be implemented after approval by the municipal planning and land department and filing with the competent department and the municipal housing and construction department.

Cause
Difficulty of pre-supervision
For temporary, sudden, and concealed construction without permission, daily inspections are often inadequate.
According to the person in charge of the Metro Safety Protection Zone Management Office (hereinafter referred to as the Protection Office) of the Municipal Design Institute of Shenzhen Metro Group, before construction within the metro protection zone, relevant projects need to submit three relevant materials—survey plan, design plan, and construction plan—in writing to Shenzhen Metro Group for opinions, and sign a safety guarantee agreement with Shenzhen Metro Group. Then they shall report to the Municipal Planning and Land Commission and the Municipal Housing and Construction Bureau to obtain planning and construction permits before construction can proceed.
Because the process involves many departments and specialties, it generally takes 15-20 working days to complete the entire process. Facing tight schedules, some units choose to take risks and construct illegally without completing the declaration and other relevant procedures.
In fact, even construction units with complete procedures may still have violations during construction. According to the person in charge, in 2016, the Protection Office corrected 164 illegal constructions within metro protection zones, including unregistered construction, lack of approval procedures, and illegal operations during construction. As of now, in 2017, 176 illegal constructions have been corrected.
According to the Rail Transit Management Measures, daily inspections and management of safety protection zones are the responsibility of the operating unit. It is understood that the Metro Safety Protection Zone Management Office is mainly responsible for three major tasks: project material review, daily inspections, and project site supervision. In fact, for temporary, sudden, and concealed construction without permission, daily inspections are often inadequate.
According to the person in charge of the Protection Office, the project that breached the Line 11 tunnel had no registration procedures, was constructed without authorization and concealed, and no abnormalities were found during the daily inspection on December 1. On the day of the incident, Southern Metropolis Daily reporters learned at the scene that the project's piling rig entered the construction site on December 3 and began piling the next day. The site was surrounded by trees, making it relatively hidden and difficult to detect.
Similarly, Southern Metropolis Daily learned that the cause of the Line 9 tunnel breach was a private geological survey conducted in the basement by an owner of a private villa apartment in Lanying Bay. It is understood that due to the high privacy of the inspection area, although the Protection Office had conducted publicity through joint management offices and door-to-door notifications, concealed construction still occurred.

Insufficient penalties
Lawyer suggests ordering construction units to suspend business for rectification or suspending their bidding or construction for a certain period
How to prevent illegal construction? "If the owner or developer does not report for approval, it is difficult for relevant units to know about such illegal operations," said a relevant person. Mao Peng, a lawyer from Guangdong Shengdian Law Firm, agrees, saying that pre-supervision is difficult because it is impossible to predict whether construction units will violate the law beforehand. The key is to increase post-event penalties to deter construction units from easily breaking the law.
According to Mao Peng's analysis, in this case, the construction unit carried out construction without legal procedures within the metro construction planning control zone, violating Article 18 of the Shenzhen Interim Regulations on Metro Construction Management. The municipal planning and land department has the right to handle and penalize the construction unit and directly responsible persons, and require the construction unit to bear compensation for losses to the metro group and passengers.
"In recent years, there have been multiple instances of metro operation interruptions caused by illegal construction by construction units. Why do they persist? The key is that the penalties and intensity are too weak. Many construction units are unwilling to go through procedures in advance because they feel it delays time and the cost of violation is low," Mao Peng believes that lagging penalties will encourage violations.
Mao Peng said that to fundamentally solve the problem, it is best to change the penalty from a simple fine to ordering the construction unit to suspend business for rectification or suspending its bidding or construction for a certain period, making the cost of violation significantly higher, so as to reduce the occurrence of violations.
According to a notice released by the Shenzhen Municipal Housing and Construction Bureau on the morning of December 7, the bureau has urged relevant departments in Nanshan District to, after clarifying the facts, impose the maximum penalty on the companies and personnel involved in strict accordance with relevant regulations. It is understood that the maximum penalty is to give the relevant construction party a red card, i.e., not allowing it to enter the construction field in Shenzhen, possibly accompanied by a certain amount of fine.
In addition, reporters learned from the Shenzhen Metro Operation Management Office that after the Line 9 incident, the office suggested that relevant illegal persons be dealt with according to law. The Nanshan Public Transport Police Station has criminally detained the two parties. The Shahe Street Planning and Land Supervision Team is currently seeking instructions from its superior unit on handling opinions.

Metro tunnels breached 3 times in two years
All caused by external illegal construction
●April 28, 2016
Metro Line 5
The section from Linhai Station to Qianhaiwan Station was breached because an external unit conducted drilling construction without approval from the Metro Group.

●Evening of October 28, 2017
Metro Line 9
During drilling construction in a residential area in Shenwan area, the tunnel section from Shenwan Station to Shenzhen Bay Park Station of Line 9 was breached, causing mud inflow. At that time, the train in the tunnel was running at high speed. Fortunately, the attendant discovered the abnormality in time and immediately notified the dispatch and maintenance departments, avoiding further damage.
This incident was caused by the construction party violating regulations and organizing construction without reporting to the Metro Group.

●Around 7 a.m. on December 6, 2017
Metro Line 11
When the morning train was traveling from Hongshuwan South to Houhai towards Bitou, it hit a pile head hanging above the tunnel at a speed of 60-70 km/h, causing severe damage to the catenary equipment and the train, and injuring the driver. The entire line was blocked that day, a large number of passengers were stranded, and tens of thousands of passengers were affected. After more than ten hours of emergency repairs, Shenzhen Metro Group resumed the down-direction train service from Hongshuwan South to Houhai on Line 11 at 19:48 that day.
According to the investigation results, the accident was caused by a non-metro construction unit conducting piling construction without declaration. On the morning of the same day, Zhengye Construction Co., Ltd., while working on the Angsete Rock Climbing Base project for the owner Shenzhen Angsete Sports Goods Co., Ltd., breached the tunnel of Shenzhen Metro Line 11.

Prevention
Plans to set up notice boards in metro security zones
Suggests installing GPS on citywide piling rigs and drill heads
The successive illegal constructions seriously threaten metro safety. How to prevent similar incidents from happening again? The Shenzhen Municipal Housing and Construction Bureau announced that next, it will actively cooperate with relevant departments to take measures to improve and perfect the long-term management mechanism, including urging all districts to strengthen supervision of small and scattered projects, and strengthening supervision of metro safety protection zones, so as to further enhance safety awareness and behavior and effectively maintain metro operation safety.
According to the person in charge of the Protection Office, Shenzhen Metro Group will also strengthen management through various means. First, it will further strengthen publicity about metro safety protection zones through media and field visits, especially focusing on residential areas, farmer houses, and schools through door-to-door outreach. At the same time, it will strengthen daily inspections using drones and other means. "We have been using them since last year, but now drone management is becoming stricter, and many places are no-fly zones. We are trying to apply. We can take photos and compare before and after to see if there is construction, which will be very obvious."
Shenzhen Metro Group also plans to set up safety notice boards in metro safety protection zones to inform and remind construction units to report in a timely manner. It is understood that previously, due to safety and civil air defense engineering issues, no relevant signs were set up in metro safety protection zones.
In addition, to control from the source, Shenzhen Metro Group has submitted a report to the Municipal Housing and Construction Bureau and others, suggesting the use of high-tech management means to include all drilling and piling construction units and all piling rig heads and drill heads in Shenzhen in a platform management system, with unified numbering and GPS positioning installed. "Once drilling starts anywhere, the system backend can display it in real time, and we can go inspect. This can greatly reduce safety hazards. Although it is somewhat difficult, it is indeed a way to grasp the source," according to a relevant person in charge of the Protection Office.