By Ashley Karen
The world’s largest combined rectangular pipe jacking machine, “CREC 1179”, has successfully rolled off the production line in Zhengzhou, Henan province, on January 6, 2023. China Railway Engineering Equipment Group, Co. Ltd. (CREG) has developed and manufactured the machine.
CREC 1179 is about 11.29m wide and 13.55m height, is composed of upper and lower components and, according to CREC’s reports, has the world’s largest tunnel face to date. The innovative machine is claimed to be used for Shasan Station’s construction on Shenzhen Metro Line 12.
This machine will excavate directly beneath the city’s commercial district in a tender to precisely control ground settlements. To secure this, CREC 1179 has been developed with multiple cutter heads equipped with multiple screw conveyors and adopted the micro-benching tunnelling technique and a measurement and control system to realize the excavation with its shallow overburden and large cross-section. CREC said that the machine could go a long way to ensuring a safe, high-quality and highly efficient construction solution for the construction of the metro station.
