China Railway Group's "CREC R469" Hard Rock TBM Rolls Off Production Line for Export to South Korea

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On August 18, the 8-meter-class open-type hard rock TBM "CREC R469," developed by China Railway Engineering Equipment (CRE) under China Railway Group, successfully rolled off the production line in Zhengzhou. It will undertake the tunnel boring task for the 8.6-kilometer section of Lot 2 of the Chuncheon–Sokcho High-Speed Railway in South Korea.

This marks the first entry of Chinese hard rock tunneling equipment into the South Korean market. In addition to the TBM main unit, CRE will also provide supporting tunnel construction equipment such as vertical belt conveyors, continuous belt conveyors, and MSVs (Multi-Service Vehicles), forming a "one-stop" solution.

The "CREC R469" has a boring diameter of 8.23 meters and a total machine length of 130 meters, capable of handling hard rock formations with compressive strength up to 140 MPa. To address the complex conditions of surrounding rock grades III to V on the project, the development team integrated a combined support system of "steel arches + rock bolts + wet shotcrete" within a confined space, and equipped it with safety facilities such as emergency generators and refuge chambers, enabling simultaneous tunneling and support operations.

The Chuncheon–Sokcho High-Speed Railway spans 93.7 kilometers with a design speed of 260 km/h, and is a key project in South Korea's national railway network. Once completed, travel time from Seoul to Sokcho will be reduced from nearly 3 hours to 1 hour and 39 minutes.