On September 12, a shield tunneling machine with a diameter of 6.35 meters rolled off the production line after acceptance in Changsha and will be shipped to Cluj-Napoca, Romania, to participate in local subway construction. This is the first time a domestically produced shield tunneling machine has been exported to Romania.

The Cluj-Napoca subway project in Romania has procured a total of 2 domestically produced shield tunneling machines, which will participate in the construction of the tunnel section from St. Mary Station to United Europe Station. During construction, the shield tunneling machine will need to carry out single-line long-distance tunneling of 5.6 kilometers and pass through complex strata such as sand, gravel, and salt mines as well as 5 geological fault fracture zones. At the same time, it will also need to overcome construction challenges such as continuous tunneling in cohesive soil strata and 175-meter small-radius turning.

According to reports, in response to issues faced by the project construction such as long-distance tunneling, crossing complex strata, and the cutterhead being prone to mud cake formation, the CRCHI development team carried out targeted design, equipping the machine with a four-spoke large-opening-ratio composite cutterhead, a multi-level muck conditioning system, advanced drilling and grouting reinforcement, and an active articulation system, ensuring that the shield tunneling machine's performance meets the project construction requirements.

Cluj-Napoca is the second-largest city in Romania. The Cluj-Napoca subway tunnel has a total length of about 21 kilometers, with a total of 19 subway stations and 1 surface station.