On August 28, the tunneling shield for the "sea-crossing" segment of the Nansha-Zhuhai (Zhongshan) Intercity Railway successfully began its journey from Zhongshan to the Ershichong Tunnel Shaft in Guangzhou's Nansha District.

The shield machine, assigned to this sea-crossing mission, has a cutterhead diameter of 13.61 meters, making it the only large-diameter shield machine on the entire line. It will excavate over 3,000 meters of tunnel, ultimately reaching the Ershichong Tunnel Shaft in Nansha, Guangzhou, to establish an intercity railway tunnel between the two cities.

Connecting Guangzhou's Nansha, Zhongshan's Chuiheng New Area, Torch High-tech Zone and Qijiang New Town, the railway originates from Wanqingsha Station in Guangzhou's Nansha District and terminates at Xingzhong Station in Zhongshan, with a designed speed of 160 kilometers per hour. Upon completion, the downtown areas of Guangzhou and Zhongshan will be accessible within one hour.

"This is the first rail transit project in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area that interconnects intercity railways and Guangzhou's subway network. In the future, it will enable direct travel from Zhongshan's Qijiang New Town to Guangzhou's Zhujiang New Town in approximately 40 minutes," said Sun Difei, project leader for the Zhongshan segment of the Nansha-Zhuhai (Zhongshan) Intercity Railway of Guangzhou Metro.

Sun added that upon completion, the Intercity Railway will operate through-routes with Guangzhou Metro Line 18, Guangzhou-Huadu Intercity Railway, and cross-line operations with Guangzhou Metro Line 22 and Fangcun-Baiyun International Airport Intercity Railway. Together, these intercity and subway lines will form a backbone route for north-south passenger flow on the west bank of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, facilitating rapid connections to key hubs such as Baiyun Airport, Guangzhou Railway Station, Guangzhou South Railway Station, and Zhongshan Station.

To date, 48% of the civil engineering work for the Guangzhou segment of the Nansha-Zhuhai (Zhongshan) Intercity Railway has been completed, with three stations and three sections still under construction. A total of 13 shield machines are currently tunneling.

For the Zhongshan segment, 18% of the civil engineering work has been completed, with seven of the nine stations under construction and two in preliminary preparation stages. Among the nine sections, three are under civil construction, while the rest are in pre-construction preparation stages. Three shield machines are currently tunneling.