Aerial view of the Baikeng Station construction site

Recently, the main structure of Baikeng Station of the "Shenzhen Airport to Daya Bay Intercity Railway Project" was successfully capped at the bottom, marking the project's entry into a new stage and creating favorable conditions for the subsequent construction of the prefabricated internal structure and shield reception in the sections at both ends.

The Shenzhen Airport to Daya Bay Intercity Railway Project (referred to as the Shenzhen-Daya Bay Intercity Project) is an important component of the Greater Bay Area intercity railway network and also a key intercity railway project in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Baikeng Station is the eighth station of the Shenzhen-Daya Bay Intercity Project and forms a three-line interchange station with the planned Shenzhen Metro Line 18 and Line 21.

Baikeng Station has a total construction area of 54,000 m² and a total length of 539.9 meters, with a standard section width of 52.5 meters and an excavation depth of approximately 19–34 meters. It is an ultra-wide, long, and deep foundation pit, about four times the scale of a conventional metro station. The station is located at the intersection of Hengdongling Road and Dongtai Road in Pinghu Subdistrict. The area has heavy traffic and a complex surrounding environment. A 110kV high-voltage overhead line crosses above the station, and the station passes beneath two century-old camphor trees classified as National Grade III protected trees. There are many surrounding structures and buildings, most of which are in former paddy fields and low-lying backfill areas, among multiple high-level risks, causing great difficulties for construction such as foundation pit excavation.

During the project construction period, the design team went to the site many times, actively coordinated and communicated with all parties, formulated special reinforcement design schemes, and carried out special design and construction scheme optimization for the diaphragm wall construction and foundation pit excavation scheme beneath the 110kV high-voltage line. They solved the structural stress problems caused by limited site space and inconvenient traffic, providing solid and strong guarantees for the smooth construction of the project.

Taking into comprehensive consideration the construction difficulty, the normal growth of the ancient trees, and the functional connectivity of the station, the team for the first time proposed the mined cavern-column method scheme under pipe-roof lateral support, effectively solving the major design and construction challenge posed by the two National Grade III ancient camphor trees being located exactly in the core area of the three-line interchange hub, and accumulating a valuable technical case for similar projects in the future.

After the Shenzhen-Daya Bay Intercity Project is opened to traffic, it will serve as an important channel for Shenzhen's external connections and have important strategic significance for the interconnection of transportation in the Bay Area and the integration of the Shenzhen-Dongguan-Huizhou metropolitan area.