Today (29th) in Changsha, China Railway 11th Bureau and China Railway
Construction Heavy Industry rolled off the ultra‑large‑diameter tunnel boring
machine "Jiaoping‑1." The TBM measures about 110 m overall, weighs roughly 3,500
tons and has 10,000 kW installed power. It offers integrated continuous
cutting–mucking–lining–grouting operations and is the world’s largest‑diameter
earth‑pressure‑balance (EPB) TBM for high‑speed rail tunnels. TBMs are broadly
two types—earth‑pressure‑balance and slurry‑shield—chosen by ground conditions;
slurry‑shield is typically used for river/sea crossings, EPB for soft rock and
urban projects.