At 20:00 on December 17, as the cutterhead of the "Hua Mulan" (CREC 912) shield machine broke through the soil, the "CREC 912" shield machine supplied by China Railway Engineering Equipment Group (CREG) for Singapore's Cross Island Line CR109 metro project achieved breakthrough in its first tender section, marking phased progress in the project's construction and making it the first shield machine to complete a breakthrough on Singapore's Cross Island MTR Line.

▲ On June 14, the "CREC 912" began excavation

As a key component of Phase 1 of Singapore's Cross Island MTR Line, the CR109 project consists of twin-bore single-track tunnels with excavation lengths of 2,107 meters and 2,116 meters respectively, mainly passing through ancient alluvial deposits, with a maximum water pressure at the tunnel center of 4.3 bar. To overcome unfavorable engineering conditions such as complex geological and hydrological conditions in the section, the CREG R&D team specially customized two earth pressure balance shield machines with an excavation diameter of 7.22 meters, equipped with multiple advanced systems to ensure precise control and efficient excavation during construction.

During excavation, the equipment achieved a maximum of 209 rings in a month and a maximum of 14 rings in a single day. The advanced design concept and excavation speed fully demonstrated the shield machine's excellent performance, providing strong support for safe and efficient tunnel construction in Singapore.

It is understood that the Cross Island Line is the eighth metro line planned and built by the Singapore government, running from its eastern starting point at Changi all the way west across the entire island of Singapore to the Tuas industrial area, with a total length of 56 kilometers. As Singapore's longest metro line, the Cross Island Line will be built in three phases. Once completed, it will greatly improve connectivity between the east and west. The initial daily passenger flow is expected to exceed 600,000, and can increase to 1 million in the long term, effectively improving residents' travel efficiency and further enhancing Singapore's urban rail transit capacity.