On March 13, Mr. Chee Hong Tat, Minister of Transport of Singapore, pressed the start button, and the cutterhead of the largest atmospheric pressure slurry shield machine exported from China to Singapore "China Railway No. 1108" slowly rotated, marking the official entry into the construction stage of the first large-diameter shield tunnel project of Singapore Metro Island Line Phase 1.

Leaders from the Ministry of Transport, Land Transport Authority, Building and Construction Authority, Changi Airport, Dacheng-CSCEC Joint Venture, guests and China Railway Equipment Singapore Branch witnessed this exciting moment.

The Singapore MRT Cross Island Line is Singapore's longest fully underground MRT line under construction, with a total length of about 50 km, connecting key areas such as Jurong Lake District, Punggol Digital District and Changi in Singapore. After the completion of the project, it is expected to exceed 600,000 passengers per day. Among them, the Singapore cross-island line CR105 project tunnel excavated by "China Railway No. 1108" has a total length of 3,157 meters, a maximum slope of 30‰, and a maximum buried depth of 60 meters.

In view of the construction difficulties and the personalized needs of customers, the design team of China Railway Equipment customized a "China Railway No. 1108" slurry shield machine with an excavation diameter of 12.66 meters, a length of about 150 meters and a total weight of about 3,000 tons, and designed and equipped with a number of innovative technologies such as the atmospheric pressure tool change system to ensure the rapid excavation of the equipment in the composite formation and well cope with the engineering risks under complex working conditions.

"China Railway No. 1108" shield machine is the first large-diameter slurry balance cutterhead shield machine launched by the Singapore Metro cross-island line project, and it is also the first large-diameter atmospheric cutterhead slurry balance shield machine exported by China overseas under the "Belt and Road" initiative. In order to ensure the smooth launch of the equipment, China Railway Equipment, relying on the Singapore branch, has arranged technical backbones and on-site construction personnel to provide all-round technical support for the on-site assembly and commissioning of the equipment, laying a solid foundation for the smooth tunneling of the equipment. Up to now, China Railway Equipment has provided more than 30 shield equipment to the Singapore market, with a market share of more than 50%, serving the construction of more than 10 basic rail transit projects in Singapore. 2024 is the "first year" of China Railway Equipment's transformation to globalization and internationalization, and China Railway Equipment will continue to adhere to innovation and leadership, practice the customer-centric concept, and continue to contribute to the construction of global underground space.