On May 6, local time, the shield machine "Matucana", which is the first shield construction metro project of Chinese enterprises in Chile constructed by China Railway Construction, started successfully at the Brazil Station, the starting point of Line 7 of Santiago Metro, the first shield construction metro project of Chinese enterprises in Chile.

More than 100 people attended the ceremony, including Niu Qingbao, Chinese Ambassador to Chile, Mark Qiang, Economic and Commercial Counselor, Juan Carlos Muñoz, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications of Chile, Chinese and Chilean builders and local community residents. In his speech, Carlos thanked China Railway Construction for the efforts made for the smooth implementation of the shield start, named the shield machine and announced the shield start.

Niu Qingbao said that since the commencement of the construction of Section 1 of Line 7 of Santiago Metro in Chile, the project construction team overcame a lot of difficulties, which made the project go smoothly and won a good reputation in the local area. As the first subway tunnel in Chile to be constructed by TBM earth pressure balance method, the smooth start of this shield machine is of great significance.

Santiago Metro Line 7 is located in Santiago, the capital of Chile, with a total length of 27 kilometers and 19 stations, connecting seven districts of the capital Santiago. China Railway Construction of the construction of the Santiago Metro Line 7 1 bidding section of the project is 7.898 kilometers long. After the completion of the project, the whole line will take only 43 minutes to run, which can shorten the passage time between the two terminals by 54%, provide fast and convenient travel services for more than 1.36 million residents, further improve the local urban rail network, and push forward the development process of "Chilean Metro 2035 Plan".

The shield machine "Matucana" is independently developed and produced by China Railway Construction, with a length of 105 meters and an excavation diameter of 9.8 meters. The naming and design of the shield machine is very characteristic of the Chilean region. The name of the shield machine "Matucana" was voted by the representatives of the Chilean citizens, and "Matucana" is an ancient indigenous language of the northern part of Chile, which means Mother Earth, implying that the shield machine will be safe and smooth during underground construction, and it is a symbol of the Chilean people's support for the project, Matucana" means mother earth in the ancient indigenous language of northern Chile, implying that the underground construction of the shield machine will be safe and smooth, and it also expresses the hope of the Chilean people for relying on the Chinese shield technology to open up the underground transportation network and promote the development of the region. The shield machine's blade design innovatively adopts the Chilean metro logo composed of three consecutive rhombuses as the background pattern, and the body of the machine is painted with the slogan "Line 7, here we come" in Spanish artistic font, expressing the good wishes of Chinese enterprises to the Chilean people.

In order to ensure the shield machine long-distance safe and efficient digging, and actively deal with the local complex geological environment, China Railway Construction independently developed a number of core key technologies, the cutter plate adopts the composite design of "six spokes + six panels", which can realize the positive and negative bi-directional rotation of the slag, the shield machine needs to be turned can be adjusted through the difference in the stroke of each group of propulsion cylinders, so as to meet the minimum turning requirements of the line. When the shield machine needs to turn, it can be adjusted by the stroke difference of each set of propulsion cylinders to meet the minimum turning requirement of the line.

The Santiago Metro Line 7 project is a key project of the Chilean government in recent years, and has received the attention of many Chilean dignitaries since the project was launched. China Railway has participated in the local development and contracted a number of medical and highway concession projects, driving Chinese equipment into the South American market and contributing to the economic and trade cooperation between China and Chile with the strength of Chinese enterprises.