Recently, the 10th ITA TUNNELLING AWARD ceremony was grandly held in Genoa, Italy. A total of 7 awards were presented at this year's ITA Tunnelling Awards, among which the "Ultra-Small Radius Hard Rock TBM" project independently developed by China Railway Equipment (CREG), a subsidiary of China Railway Hi-Tech Industry, won the Gold Award in the "Equipment and Equipment Innovation of the Year" category, and the "Qingdao Metro Line 6 Phase I Project" — constructed under the general contracting of China Railway Shanghai Investment, with China Railway No.1, No.2, No.3, No.4, No.8, Tunnel Engineering Bureau, and Shanghai Bureau as construction units — won the Bronze Award in the "Beyond Engineering" category.

Equipment and Equipment Innovation of the Year

Ultra-Small Radius Hard Rock TBM Project

The award-winning "Ultra-Small Radius Hard Rock TBM" breaks through the conventional TBM turning radius limit of 300 meters, achieving a major technical breakthrough in reducing the turning radius from 300 meters to 30 meters, and has been widely applied in major engineering fields such as pumped-storage power stations, mining, and energy development across the country.

Domestic pumped-storage power station drainage gallery projects face difficulties such as narrow launch sites for on-site organization, short single-tunnel lengths, and numerous continuous curves. Based on the complex construction characteristics of pumped-storage power stations, CREG developed the ultra-small radius hard rock TBM, with excavation diameters now covering 3 to 9 meters, reducing the overall machine length by 70% and weight by 60%. The equipment features good safety, high tunneling efficiency, strong adaptability, and flexible relocation during tunnel construction, and has distinguished itself in 29 pumped-storage projects including Wendeng in Shandong, Funing in Hebei, and Luoning in Henan.

As a leading enterprise in China's shield tunneling industry, CREG has been committed to innovative design and research on frontier and key technologies of tunnel boring equipment, leading the industry's high-quality development through innovation-driven approaches. It has successively developed numerous tunnel boring machines for highly difficult tunnels, with relevant core technical achievements reaching internationally leading levels, providing technical support for the green, healthy, safe, and intelligent development of the tunnel industry.

Beyond Engineering

Qingdao Metro Line 6 Phase I Project

Qingdao Metro Line 6 Phase I Project is a benchmark demonstration project built with craftsmanship by China Railway after more than ten years of deep cultivation in Qingdao Metro. The line has a total length of 30.76 kilometers and 21 underground stations, with China Railway responsible for the general contracting of 17 stations and 19 intervals. The project commenced at the end of 2019 and opened for operation on April 26, 2024.

During construction, all participating units of China Railway adhered to innovation leadership and actively practiced the "dual carbon" concept, achieving the country's first large-scale application of "active support technology for large-span mined metro stations," reaching internationally leading levels; and the country's first full-chain breakthrough in prefabricated metro station technology, making station construction like "building blocks," and completing the country's largest-scale prefabricated integrated metro line.

At the same time, the construction units developed processes and methods for the efficient separation of sand and gravel aggregate and fine mud from shield tunneling muck, forming a complete set of technologies and equipment systems for the harmless treatment and resource utilization of shield muck, ensuring the timely and compliant disposal of shield muck and slurry. Through aggregate recovery and clay brick-making, and reusing them in metro projects, they achieved "turning waste into treasure"; widely used new energy equipment and air-source equipment, promoted building-integrated photovoltaic technology, built a high-quality "green and energy-saving line," and contributed China Railway wisdom and strength to Qingdao Metro's goal of "building a world-class metro."

Further Reading / International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association

The International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is a non-profit, non-governmental international organization and one of the internationally influential academic organizations in the tunnel and underground engineering field. Since 2015, in order to recognize outstanding projects and individuals that have brought breakthroughs and innovations to the development of tunnels and underground space worldwide, the ITA annually selects about 30 representative engineering projects and individuals from around the world for its nomination list, and ultimately a panel of dozens of top experts collectively selects the final winning projects and presents the annual awards.