【Macau News】CRTG Launches Macau’s First TBM

On March 29, the TBM under the design & construction contract for improvement of sewage pipeline in Macau undertaken by CRTG Joint Venture was successfully launched, ushered in rapid construction stage of the project.

The project has the total length of 2560 meters, including a 2279-meter long TBM tunnel section. Jointly developed by China Railway Tunnel Group and China Railway Engineering Equipment Group, the TBM has the excavation diameter of 3.38m, total length of 186m and total weight of 400 tons. As a self-developed small diameter TBM, it features multiple special design and functions: the TBM main body is designed as a shuttle-shaped structure to adapt to the special stratum in Macau; the spherical hinge is adopted to cope with the specific tunnel section with minimum turning radius of 50m; and the slag is discharged by pumping with wholly sealed pipelines, which improves construction efficiency and construction environment.

The project faces multiple challenges, such as many high-rise buildings and famous scenic spots along the tunnel, narrow construction site, heavy traffic, complex underground pipelines, multiple small-radius tunnel turns, complex geology of the reclamation area, high social attention and etc.

In Macau, cut-and-cover method and cover-cut method are mainly used for tunnel construction with no precedent for TBM construction. To lower impacts on construction facilities along the tunnel and to reduce construction noise and constraints on construction progress such as weather, TBM tunneling is adopted for the first time in Macau, which has long been matured in mainland China.

The project is the first time CRTG has entered the Macau market. The project will lay a sewage pipeline mainly along an avenue between the reclamation area and the sewage treatment plant. To reduce impact on traffic, the TBM is used to for the avenue section construction and cut and cover method is used for construction of the two ends of the project which locates in urban green space.

Upon completion, the project will improve the capacity of the sewage discharge system in the area to meet the needs of urban development, effectively solve the problem of sewage overflow and pollution of sea water that has long plagued Macau citizens at the outer port wharf, and protect the ecology, thus improving the overall living environment and promoting regional economic development.