Construction workers are preparing to start tunnelling work on the Light Rail Transit extension to Hengqin now that an earth pressure balance shield machine has rolled off the production line in Changsha, Hunan Province.
China Railway Construction Heavy Industry designed and manufactured the Macao-Hengqin specially to operate in soft ground conditions containing water under pressure. The machine is 7.98 metres wide and 87 metres long, making it the largest of its kind to be put into use in Macao.
Macao-based Nam Kwong Group is building the extension line, which consists of a viaduct, the river tunnel, and two stations.
The 2.2-kilometre line runs on the viaduct from HE1 Station near Lotus Bridge Station of the Taipa Line in Macao, and continues 900 metres under the Shizimen Waterway alongside the Lotus Bridge to HE2 Station beneath Hengqin Checkpoint.
Construction is expected to take three years and cost MOP 3.5 billion (US$438 million). Traffic diversion, pipeline removal, deformation monitoring, geological reinforcement, foundation pit excavation, and support structure construction are currently underway on the Hengqin side.
The extension aims to improve connectivity between Hengqin and Macao along with regional living standards and help form a one-hour living circle within the Greater Bay Area.
