China completes cutting medium- and low-speed maglev tunnel with shield tunneling machine

BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- China completed the cutting of a medium- and low-speed maglev tunnel using a China-made shield tunneling machine on Saturday, in Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan Province.

It is the first time the country has cut a maglev tunnel of this sort using such a method, said China Railway Construction Corporation Ltd.

The 2.85-km tunnel, 27 meters below the earth, is part of a maglev train line leading to Terminal 3 of the Changsha Huanghua International Airport, according to the company.

The shield tunneling method helps to ensure that ground subsidence is limited to 0.2 millimeters, it said.