On March 31, the left-line shield of the Ping-Ping section (Pingshanwei Station–Pingshan Middle School Station) of Shenzhen Rail Transit Line 16 was successfully launched. With this, all 50 single-track sections of the entire line have completed launching, marking that the shield tunneling works of Line 16 have fully entered the critical stage.

The Ping-Ping section is about 598 m long, and its alignment is S-shaped. Starting from Pingshanwei Station, it passes beneath multiple buildings and structures before entering Pingshan Middle School Station. The maximum tunnel gradient is 15‰, and the cover depth ranges from 10.19 to 19.58 m.

Since the entire Line 16 needs to cross 13.4 km of karst areas, shield tunneling in karst areas carries high risks. To this end, the project department has defined the main guideline for karst sections as "ground treatment as the core, with in-tunnel treatment implemented where feasible," and has actively carried out supplementary karst exploration and treatment across the entire line. At the same time, in view of the complexity of the section geology, unconventional high-performance equipment was selected for the shield machines, fully equipped with six-spoke composite cutterheads and large-size disc cutters, and the cutter spacing was further optimized to ensure that the shields can both "chew through the hard bone" and avoid "breaking their teeth" when facing complex and variable strata.

Metro Line 16 starts from Dayun Station, runs along Longgang Avenue, Huangge Road and Longping Road, passes through the old center of Longgang and then goes south along Shenshan Highway to Pingshan Station, passes through the Pingshan central area and then runs along Dongzong Road, Jintian Road and other roads to the terminus Tianxin Station. The line is about 29.2 km long with 24 stations.

As of now, the entire line has completed 100% of the retaining structure; 99% of earthwork excavation; and 95% of the main structure.

Among them, 30 of the 50 single-track sections have been holed through, and 18 of the 23 stations on the entire line have been capped.