The world's first maglev tunnel made using shield tunneling method. /China Railway Construction Corporation
China completed the cutting of a medium- and low-speed maglev tunnel using a shield tunneling machine in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, on Saturday.
This maglev tunnel is the first of its kind worldwide to apply shield tunneling, according to its developer China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC).
The shield tunneling method helps to ensure that ground subsidence is limited to 0.2 millimeters, the company said.
The 2.85-km tunnel, 27 meters below the earth, is part of the east extension of the Changsha Maglev Express.
A maglev express runs in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, October 3, 2018. /CFP
China's first home-grown maglev line, which shuttles between Terminal 1 of Changsha Huanghua International Airport and Changsha South Railway Station, began operations in 2016.
In the past seven years, the line has run 373,139 trains and served about 20 million passenger trips, according to CRCC.
With the newly-built maglev tunnel, the line will soon be able to lead directly to Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 of the airport.
The east extension line of the maglev is part of the airport's reconstruction and expansion project, aimed at realizing fast and convenient "air-rail" combined transportation in Changsha.
(With input from Xinhua)