Bay area welcomes first tunnel ‘exclusive doctor’

The Equipment Testing Center of China Railway Tunnel Group was recently located in Guangzhou’s Nansha district. It is the sole Chinese assessment agency for tunneling machines certified by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS).

The center, which has a lot of experience in tunneling machine inspection, fault diagnosis and technology consulting, will benefit underground construction in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The Equipment Testing Center of China Railway Tunnel Group is unveiled in Guangzhou’s Nansha district. [Photo/gznsnews.com.cn]

As the pillar of the country’s underground construction, shield tunneling machines must be kept in good condition; however they are exposed to damage that may affect construction schedules.

“We now adopt a full life circle management mode. This means our assessments start from the very beginning of a machine’s production phase, and follow the whole process including its maintenance and replacement,” said Su Dong, Party chief of the testing center.

The Bay area sees infrastructure construction accelerating as implementation of the Development Plan deepens. Projects of water conservancy and subway construction in the local hubs of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhongshan and Foshan are in full swing.

More shield tunneling machines will enter the market. Over 70 are in use in Guangzhou and the number will increase to 100 by 2020.

“That is the significant reason why we moved the headquarters to Nansha. The district is located at the heart of the bay area and plays an increasingly pivotal role in its development,” added Su.

The center attained CNAS certification in May of 2018, which makes it acceptable by 45 counties and regions.

It considers equipment appraisal as its main business and technology training and consulting as its high-end activity. To date it has completed and fulfilled 2,500 orders.