At around 10 a.m. on May 30, at the construction site of the Shenzhen–Jiangmen High-Speed Railway's Shenzhen–Dongguan Tunnel (West Section) in Dongguan, the "Kunpeng" earth pressure balance shield machine—the largest-diameter EPB shield ever used in composite strata in China—was successfully launched, marking the official start of shield tunneling on the Shenzhen–Dongguan section of the Shenzhen–Jiangmen High-Speed Railway.

The Shenzhen–Dongguan Tunnel (West Section) is about 15.3 km long, of which 3.84 km is to be bored by the "Kunpeng" shield machine. According to reports, the "Kunpeng" shield machine has a maximum excavation diameter of 13.24 meters, a total length of 127 meters and a total weight of more than 3,350 tonnes, making it the earth pressure balance shield machine with the largest excavation diameter currently used in composite strata construction in China. After launching from Working Shaft No. 7 in Dongguan Binhai Bay, the machine will bore in the direction of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen Yanjiang Expressway and, after passing beneath risk sources such as the Dongbao River and the Tianyuan Interchange Bridge of the Outer Ring Expressway, will arrive at Working Shaft No. 6 in Shenzhen Bao'an.

As an important part of the coastal corridor of China's "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed railway network, the Shenzhen–Jiangmen High-Speed Railway starts from the newly built Shenzhen Xili Station and runs westward through Dongguan, Guangzhou, Zhongshan and Jiangmen before connecting to Jiangmen Station on the Jiangmen–Zhanjiang Railway, with a main line length of 116 km.

Among these, the Shenzhen Xili–Nansha section of the Shenzhen–Jiangmen High-Speed Railway is designed for a speed of 200 km/h, and the Nansha–Jiangmen section for 250 km/h. The line has seven stations in total: Shenzhen Xili, Shenzhen Airport East, Dongguan Binhai Bay, Nansha, Zhongshan North, Henglan and Jiangmen, of which Jiangmen Station is an existing station and the other six, including Shenzhen Xili Station, are newly built. Once the project opens for operation, the journey from Shenzhen to Jiangmen is expected to take as little as one hour.