At 8:30 a.m. on February 28, at a depth of 22 meters underground, as the cutterhead slowly rotated, the "Xincheng No. 1" shield machine for the Shenzhen Airport–Daya Bay Intercity Railway project (the "Shenzhen–Daya Bay Intercity Railway project") undertaken by China Railway 14th Bureau Group was successfully launched. This marks the project's full entry into the shield tunneling construction phase, firing the "first shot" of resuming work and production in the new year.

The Shenzhen–Daya Bay Intercity Railway is an important component of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area intercity railway network. The line has a total length of approximately 69.2 km, starting from T4 Station of Shenzhen Bao'an Airport, passing through Bao'an District, Longhua District and Longgang District, and ending at Julong Station in Pingshan District. It has 11 underground stations and a design speed of 160 km/h, and is expected to be completed and opened to traffic in 2026.

According to reports, the shield tunneling section launched this time runs from Minzhi North Station to Wuhe Station. The strata crossed by the section are extremely complex, with soft-over-hard strata accounting for 45% and full-face hard rock accounting for 30%; various types of granite are distributed throughout, and boulders are well developed. There are numerous buildings and structures along the project route: the tunnel passes alongside residential communities and existing operating metro lines, and passes beneath multiple pedestrian bridges, expressways, railways, bridges and gas pipelines. Gao Yingkai, project manager of the Shenzhen–Daya Bay Intercity Railway project of China Railway 14th Bureau Group, said, "Guangdong is known as a 'geological museum,' and this section involves as many as 12 major risk sources, which is tantamount to 'performing surgery on the heart.'"

Gao Yingkai explained that due to the complex external environment, the launch site is narrow, and the usable length of the station is only 36.4 meters, while the "Xincheng No. 1" machine is 117 meters long in total. To meet the conditions for launching and tunneling, the project team adopted a construction method combining large split launching with assembly while tunneling, successfully completing the launch task in an extremely confined space. In addition, the project team used advanced technologies such as advanced geological forecasting, advanced horizontal grouting reinforcement and all-weather intelligent settlement monitoring to ensure the safe and smooth tunneling of the shield machine under complex geological conditions.

After the Shenzhen–Daya Bay Intercity Railway is completed and opened to traffic, the fastest journey from Pingshan to Shenzhen Airport will take only 40 minutes. This will further strengthen rapid connections between eastern, western and central Shenzhen. At the same time, as an important channel for Shenzhen's external connections, the intercity railway will promote the integration of the Shenzhen–Dongguan–Huizhou metropolitan area.