On September 15, China's smallest cross-section hard rock shield tunneling machine, "Huanbei Guangxi No. 8," was officially launched at Section D5 of the Huanbei Gulf Guangxi Water Resources Allocation Project, constructed by the 14th Bureau of Sinohydro, marking the project's transition into a new phase of "dynamic advancement."

The Huanbei Gulf Guangxi Water Resources Allocation Project is one of the 150 major national water conservancy projects. As a backbone project of the national water network and a supporting project of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, its water conveyance line has a total length of 491.1 kilometers. The water supply scope covers 21 counties (cities and districts) and 34 industrial parks across four cities—Nanning, Qinzhou, Beihai, and Yulin—benefiting nearly 14 million people. It is the cross-basin, cross-administrative-region water resources allocation project with the largest beneficiary population and the longest water conveyance line in Guangxi's history.

Section D5, where the "Huanbei Guangxi No. 8" shield tunneling machine is deployed, is the Luchuan County branch water conveyance line, with a total length of 30.39 kilometers, including 14.097 kilometers of tunnels. As a key control project of this section, the Datianmian Tunnel on the Luchuan branch has a total length of 3,028.2 meters and is constructed using the slurry balance shield tunneling method, with the shield section routed from northwest to southeast.

The "Huanbei Guangxi No. 8" shield tunneling machine has an excavation diameter of only 3.1 meters, a total length of approximately 200 meters, and a weight of about 400 tons. It is equipped with advanced technologies such as advanced geological forecasting and intelligent slurry monitoring, and innovatively adopts a segment lifting and trailing backup trolley system. This effectively meets the construction needs of long-distance, small-cross-section tunnels, ensures safe and efficient excavation under complex geological conditions, and provides solid technical support for the smooth breakthrough of the tunnel.

"The successful launch of the shield tunneling machine is an important milestone in the project's construction," said the project manager. Next, the project team will anchor its goals of building a premium project, an ecological project, a people-centered project, and a clean project, fully leverage its professional advantages as an underground iron army and hydropower powerhouse, and advance the project's construction with higher standards and stricter requirements, so as to provide strong water resources support for the high-quality development of the Huanbei Gulf region and help improve regional economic and social development and people's livelihoods.