On June 30, the super-large-diameter slurry balance shield machine "Qihang" (diameter 14.25 meters), jointly developed by China Railway No. 4 Engineering Group and China Railway Engineering Equipment Group, passed acceptance and successfully rolled off the production line. It will be used in the tunnel construction of the Third Work Area of Section 5 in front of the Hangzhou Airport High-speed Railway Station.

Xu Dunlian, Party branch secretary and chairman of Hangzhou Airport High-speed Railway Co., Ltd.; Tong Hesong, Party branch member and deputy general manager; Chen Yangxin, chief supervision engineer of Shanghai Tianyou Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd.; Zhu Hangkai, on-site person in charge of China Railway Fourth Survey and Design Institute; Tang Shu, deputy chief engineer of China Railway No. 4 Engineering Group; Liu Wenle, deputy director of the Materials and Equipment Department; Lin Hong, chief of the Equipment Management Section of the Materials and Equipment Department; Chen Guangqiao, general manager of the Urban Rail Branch; Huang Qiheng, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and chairman of the Labor Union; Zhou Wei, deputy department-level professional manager; Zhan Chongqian, commander of the project management department of Section 5 in front of the Hangzhou Airport High-speed Railway Station of China Railway No. 4 Engineering Group; Hu Xiaofang, executive deputy commander; Tang Aizhong, deputy secretary; Wang Kai, deputy general manager of China Railway Engineering Equipment Group; and representatives of relevant units, totaling more than 80 people, attended the roll-off ceremony.

The "Qihang" slurry balance shield machine has a total length of about 130 meters and an excavation diameter of 14.25 meters. It will be used for the tunnel construction from Xiaoshan Airport Station to the east side of the intersection of Kanhong Road and Qianhang Road undertaken by China Railway No. 4 Engineering Group. The shield construction section of the tunnel is 2,675.05 meters long, with a maximum burial depth of about 24.33 meters. During construction, the shield will pass through silty sand layers and mucky clay layers over a long distance, pass alongside multiple ground buildings such as the airport customs, and pass beneath numerous risk sources such as Hangzhou Metro Line 7, the Airport No. 3 Tunnel, and elevated bridges. The overall construction of the project is highly difficult, placing high requirements on equipment stability.

The "Qihang" shield machine features large diameter, high thrust, high torque, and a high degree of intelligence. It will enter the site for assembly in July and undergo commissioning and launching in September. At that time, multiple intelligent systems such as "intelligent perception, intelligent decision-making, intelligent execution, and intelligent control" will be adopted to ensure safe and controllable shield tunnel construction and to ensure the efficient and steady progress of the Hangzhou Airport High-speed Railway project.

It is reported that, as an important project of the "Yangtze River Delta on Rails," the Hangzhou Airport High-speed Railway project is Zhejiang Province's ** high-speed railway project to pass beneath the Qiantang River in tunnel form, and also Zhejiang Province's ** high-speed railway project to pass beneath an airport in tunnel form. After the project is completed, it will realize air-rail intermodal transport, connect airports, urban rail, and expressways in series, and form a multi-level rail transit network. It will not only shorten the space-time distance between Xiaoshan International Airport and various places within Zhejiang Province, but also achieve connections with the Yangtze River Delta and even the whole country, which is of great significance for promoting high-quality integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta and other aspects.