On January 1, 2025, the "Top 10 Pillars of the Nation among Central Enterprises for 2024" were grandly unveiled. China's independently developed largest-diameter shield tunneling machine, the "Jianghai Hao," was selected alongside the first ocean drilling ship "Mengxiang," the largest domestic quantum computing cluster "Tianyan," and others. This marks the second time a pillar of the nation independently developed by CRCC Heavy Industry has been shortlisted, following the world's largest vertical shaft boring machine "Mengxiang Hao." Behold the greatest domestic glory bearing the "mission of the nation"!

On December 23, 2024, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council's "Guozi Xiaoxin" carefully selected 20 pillars of the nation from the key projects built by central enterprises in 2024—ones that possess both communication "heat" and innovation "strength"—based on comprehensive media reports and netizen recommendations, and launched a vote that attracted over 1.18 million netizens to participate. Combining the netizen voting results and expert opinions, the "Top 10 Pillars of the Nation among Central Enterprises for 2024" were ultimately selected.

China's independently developed largest-diameter shield tunneling machine, the "Jianghai Hao," rolls off the production line

On October 31, 2024, the super-large-diameter shield tunneling machine "Jianghai Hao," jointly built by CRCC Heavy Industry, China Railway 14th Bureau Group, and China Railway Fourth Survey and Design Institute, with a maximum excavation diameter of 16.64 meters, rolled off the production line in Changsha, Hunan. This is the largest-diameter shield tunneling machine independently developed by Chinese researchers. The "Jianghai Hao" will be applied to the construction of the Haitai Yangtze River Tunnel, currently the world's longest underwater highway shield tunnel.

The "Jianghai Hao" is named after the Haitai Yangtze River Tunnel project's two connotations of crossing the Yangtze River and being adjacent to the sea. Its cutterhead is painted with azure giant waves surging forward, symbolizing that the shield tunneling machine will forge ahead with concentrated effort and reach both the river and the sea.

It is understood that the industry generally refers to shield tunneling machines with a diameter of 14 meters and above as super-large-diameter shield tunneling machines. The "Jianghai Hao" is another super-large-diameter shield tunneling machine independently developed by a Chinese enterprise, following the successful rollout and application of the 16.07-meter-diameter "Jinghua Hao." The successful rollout of the "Jianghai Hao" marks a new leap for China in the development and application of 16-meter-class super-large-diameter shield tunneling machines, and indicates that China has formed the capacity for industrialized development across the entire industrial chain of super-large-diameter shield tunneling machines.

This is the second time a pillar of the nation independently developed by CRCC Heavy Industry has been shortlisted. In 2022, CRCC Heavy Industry's world's largest vertical shaft boring machine "Mengxiang Hao" was selected alongside the domestically produced large aircraft C919, China's third aircraft carrier "Fujian," and others as one of the "Top 10 Pillars of the Nation among Central Enterprises for 2022."