On August 1, good news came from the Yangtze River-to-Han River Water Diversion Project: the two hard rock tunnel boring machines (TBMs) "Jianghan Ping'an" and "Jianghan Kaituo," developed by China Railway Engineering Equipment Group, both surpassed the 1,000-ring milestone in segment assembly, marking a new stage of accelerated construction for the water diversion tunnel.

As the largest-diameter and most fully featured double-shield hard rock TBM in domestic water diversion tunnel projects, the "Jianghan Ping'an" TBM has an excavation diameter of 11.93 meters and is responsible for driving the 16.6-kilometer water conveyance tunnel in Section 2 of the civil construction and metal structure/electromechanical installation for the Yangtze River-to-Han River Water Diversion Project. The equipment is equipped with a series of advanced intelligent systems that can achieve the construction goals of "safety, efficiency, and reliability" for excavation of the tunnel's extra-large cross-section. In July, segment assembly exceeded 243 rings, with monthly advance of 439 meters, setting a new monthly tunneling record for similar domestic projects, and total tunneling mileage reached 1,887 meters.

The other TBM, "Jianghan Kaituo," has an excavation diameter of 12.23 meters and is currently the largest-diameter single-shield hard rock TBM applied in a domestic water conservancy project. It is responsible for crossing the largest cross-section and longest soft rock deformation section of the Yangtze River-to-Han River Water Diversion Project. The equipment integrates a full set of operational functions including tunnel excavation, mucking, guidance, and material transport, and is responsible for driving the 12.15-kilometer water conveyance tunnel in Section 6 of the civil construction and metal structure/electromechanical installation for the project. In July, segment assembly exceeded 190 rings, with monthly advance of 343 meters, demonstrating strong construction performance, and total tunneling mileage reached 1,803 meters.

The Yangtze River-to-Han River Water Diversion Project is the first major project to begin construction under the follow-up works of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. Once completed, the project will further open up the water transmission corridor from the Yangtze River to the north, improve the water supply guarantee rate of the Middle Route Project, alleviate the contradiction between water resource supply and demand in the Han River basin, and improve the weakened regional water resource allocation capacity and the water ecological environment problems in the middle and lower reaches of the Han River. At the same time, it will connect the Yangtze River and Han River basins with North China, improve the water network layout, and play an important role in safeguarding national water security, promoting economic and social development, and serving the construction of a new development pattern.