The shield tunneling of the Liucun Tunnel on the Nanning-Chongzuo Railway has completed 2,080 meters, more than half of the task, and the main structure of the large-chainage open-cut section of the tunnel has been fully completed, marking a breakthrough in the construction of the Liucun Tunnel. At present, the shield section of the Liucun Tunnel is advancing at a speed of 12 meters per day, and the tunnel is expected to break through within the year.

The Liucun Tunnel on the Nanning-Chongzuo Railway has a total length of 5,725 meters, including a 1,240-meter large-chainage open-cut section, a 479-meter small-chainage open-cut section, and a 4,006-meter shield section. The tunnel is the first large-diameter railway shield tunnel in Guangxi, adopting internationally leading large-diameter shield tunnel construction technology, and is an engineering project with distinctive regional characteristics in Guangxi.

During the tunneling process, the shield machine has to face the challenges of relatively shallow burial depth and complex lithology in the shield section. Tunneling through large-section, long-distance sandstone strata causes severe tool wear, and the complex underpassing of urban buildings entails high construction risks. In addition, the large-chainage open-cut section is located beneath Liucun Road, crossing over Metro Line 4 and underpassing Nahong Avenue. The construction front is long, and both sides are mostly residential and commercial gathering areas. To ensure the smooth completion of the schedule, the project contractor has continuously optimized construction organization, overcome difficulties such as a narrow construction site, high difficulty in organizing construction, and serious water leakage between piles, and achieved a steady tunneling speed of 12 meters per day. According to the manager of the shield work area of the Nanning-Chongzuo Railway Project Department, the Liucun Tunnel is expected to break through within the year.

It is understood that the newly built Nanning-Chongzuo Railway has a main line length of 119.3 kilometers and a design operating speed of 250 kilometers per hour, and is expected to be completed and opened to traffic in 2022. After opening, the travel time from Nanning to Chongzuo will be shortened from the current 2 hours to half an hour.