On June 2, at the construction site of the Taiyuan Metro Line 2-1 connecting line section (Dananmen Station), a 73-meter-long shield machine had been transported to the site in batches on June 1. Starting today, the section officially enters the shield machine assembly and commissioning phase.

Dananmen Metro Station is an interchange station for Taiyuan Metro Lines 1 and 2, located on the southeast side of the intersection of Jiefang Road and Yingze Street in Yingze District, Taiyuan. The Line 2 station runs north-south along Jiefang Road, while the Line 1 station runs east-west along Yingze Street. The Taiyuan Metro Line 2-1 connecting line section is located at Dananmen Station, with a total shield-driven length of 148.3 meters.

On that day, at the construction site of the Taiyuan Metro Line 2-1 connecting line section, the cutterhead, front shield, middle shield, and tail shield of the shield machine were laid out one by one: the front shield, middle shield, and tail shield, with a diameter of 6.4 meters, were predominantly white, quietly awaiting assembly and commissioning; on the blue cutterhead, several technicians were busy working... Not far away, a 260-ton crawler crane for the middle shield was already in place, ready to lift the major components of the shield machine down into the shaft.

This connecting line starts from the shield launching shaft on the west side of Yingze Park. The section passes beneath some antique-style buildings in Yingze Park (Guijuxuan) and passes alongside Yingze Pavilion at a distance of only 4 meters. The alignment is arc-shaped and finally completes excavation upon reception at No. 4 ventilation pavilion of the station. Although the line is only 148.3 meters long, its horizontal turning radius reaches 200 meters. Once excavation begins, it will be equivalent to making this "giant" shield machine with a diameter of 6.4 meters take a "sharp turn" underground, which is more difficult than straight-line shield tunneling and is also a first in Taiyuan metro construction.

Another construction difficulty of the connecting line shield section lies in the one-way slope of the alignment, sloping from Dananmen Station of Taiyuan Metro Line 2 toward Dananmen Station of Taiyuan Metro Line 1, with a gradient of 33‰ throughout, which brings certain difficulties to construction.

It is understood that, to cooperate with the shield construction of the connecting line section, the project department began organizing personnel to enter the site for construction in March. At present, preliminary preparations such as site hardening, gantry crane assembly, muck pit pouring, and end reinforcement have all been completed. Next, the connecting line section will enter the shield machine assembly and commissioning stage. At the end of the month, the shield machine will officially launch and begin tunneling.