Xinhua News Agency, Nanjing, September 26 (Reporter Liu Weiwei) my country’s first domestically-made 3-meter-class main bearing shield machine "China Railway No. 872" started on the 26th at Zhongxin Avenue East Station of Suzhou Rail Transit Line 6. This is my country After breaking through the bottleneck of the independent technology development of the shield main bearing, the equipment in this field performed underground tunneling tasks for the first time in the rail transit field.

  The main bearing is called the "heart" of the shield machine, bears the main load during the operation of the shield machine, and is a key component of the cutter head drive system.

  The project is led by China Railway Shanghai Engineering Bureau. Its self-developed "China Railway 872" shield machine is my country’s first 3-meter domestic main bearing application shield that has passed the national strong foundation project test. The equipment has an excavation diameter of 6.83 meters. The diameter of the main bearing is 3.06 meters, the length of the machine is about 85 meters, the total weight is about 550 tons, and the maximum tunneling speed is 0.1 m/min.

  It is reported that the tunneling "journey" of the "China Railway No. 872" shield machine is from Zhongxin Avenue East Station of Suzhou Rail Transit Line 6 to Susheng Road Station, with a total length of 866 meters. The construction is expected to be completed on November 30.

  "The commissioning of the "China Railway No. 872" shield machine is the first time that my country has realized the localization of main bearing manufacturing, and has taken a key step in the localization of the core technology of large equipment." China Railway Shanghai Bureau Suzhou Rail Transit Line 6 and 10 Standard Project Manager Yin Jinqiu said that the commissioning of the equipment will continue to verify the performance and reliability of key parts such as the main bearings, reducers, and frequency converters of domestic shield machines, and use actual data to support the further improvement of localized equipment.

  Suzhou Rail Transit Line 6 has a total length of 36.12 kilometers and a total of 31 stations. It is scheduled for trial operation in June 2024.