At 11:06 AM on February 7, the 8.8m diameter shield tunneling machine “Dream Builder” of Beijing Urban Construction was officially launched at Cigezhuang Station for the New Airport Line, marking that all large shield tunneling machines of the three construction units involved in the first phase of the Beijing Rail Transit New Airport Line have been put into tunneling. The reporter learned that according to the plan, the New Airport Line will achieve full shield tunnel breakthrough by December 2018 and enter the track-laying stage, and is expected to be put into use simultaneously with the new airport terminal by the end of 2019. According to the introduction, the New Airport Line's speed is twice that of ordinary subways, and it uses an overhead contact system power supply, which requires a larger shield cross-section. Therefore, the construction party used a large shield tunneling machine for tunnel excavation in Beijing for the first time.

The New Airport Line has a total length of 41.36 kilometers, including 23.65 kilometers of underground lines and 17.71 kilometers of elevated and subgrade sections. The line has three stations: North Terminal, Cigezhuang Station, and Caoqiao Station, with a total of 3 stations and 4 intervals, as well as one Cigezhuang vehicle depot and one reserved parking lot. The reporter learned that the shield launching on February 7 is part of the civil engineering section 06 of the first phase of the New Airport Line. The project is 3 kilometers long and is the interval from Cigezhuang Station to No. 1 ventilation shaft, including the open-cut shield launching shaft, the shield-driven interval tunnel, and the No. 1 interval ventilation shaft cum receiving shaft constructed by a combination of open-cut and mined methods. A project manager told Qianlong.com that this section has the characteristics of long distance and dense underground gravel layers. For this reason, Beijing Urban Construction Group, which is responsible for the construction of this project, specially purchased a new high-performance spoke-type earth pressure balance shield tunneling machine. The cutterhead diameter is 9.04 meters, the main machine length is 11.9 meters, the total length of the machine is 120 meters, and the total weight is 1,409 tons. This is the largest shield tunneling machine used in Beijing since the first introduction of shield tunneling method in Metro Line 5. Different from the previous 6m diameter shield tunneling machines used in urban subways, the application of this diameter shield tunneling machine in the field of domestic urban rapid rail transit shield tunnel construction will become a new development trend.

Chen Daihua, Party Secretary and Chairman of Beijing Urban Construction Group, said that the New Airport Line has a tight schedule and heavy tasks. With the joint efforts of all participating parties, through overall coordination of the entire line in advance and the implementation of the station-shaft separation plan, the shield launching site was separated from Cigezhuang Station, reducing mutual constraints and cross-interference, and laying the foundation for the early launch of the shield. According to the introduction, since entering the site on June 3, 2017, the Beijing Urban Construction project management team has overcome the influence of the rainy season, winter season, and other external factors, increased resource investment, and carried out continuous construction, finally achieving the shield launch before the Spring Festival. The project personnel will stay on the site during the Spring Festival, persist in construction, and go all out to ensure the schedule requirements of each node.

The first phase of the Beijing Rail Transit New Airport Line has a total length of 41.36 kilometers and is a rail transit line connecting the central city with the new airport. The line is positioned as a fast, direct, and high-quality rail transit dedicated line, with a design speed of up to 160 km/h, which is the first in the field of domestic urban rail transit. The project is invested and constructed under the PPP model by a consortium composed of eight units including Beijing Rail Transit Construction Management Co., Ltd. (Construction Management Company) and Beijing Urban Construction Group, with Beijing Urban Construction Group undertaking part of the investment, general construction contracting, and overall design and general contracting tasks for the entire line.