Monitoring for Shatin to Central Link – Contract 1103 | China

A strategic railway line

The Shatin to Central Link (SCL) is a strategic railway line that stretches from Tai Wai to Admiralty, connecting several existing railway lines and passing through multiple districts in Hong Kong. It will serve areas in east Kowloon that currently do not have any MTR service.

The project comprised two parts. The first section was from Tai Wai to Hung Hom, while the second was from Hung Hom to Admiralty. The first section extended the existing Ma On Shan Line to the west rail line to form the east west corridor, and its overall length is about 11km. The second section of about 6km long forms an extension of the existing east rail line across the Victoria Harbour and via northern Wan Chai to Admiralty.

Tunnels construction with extensive monitoring

In the first section, there are eight stations including Tai Wai, Hin Keng, Diamond Hill, Kai Tak, Sung Wong Toi, Ma Tau Wai, Homantin and Hung Hom. C1103 comprised the construction of the running tunnels between the new Hin King station and Diamond Hill station and associated launching and ventilation shaft.

C1103 tunnel was built using two techniques:

• from Hin Keng site to Ma Chai Hang, the 2.1km of tunnel will be excavated by drill and blast
• from Ma Chai Hang to Diamond Hill, two single-track tunnels of 1.7km each will be excavated using a slurry TBM

The TBM alignment will be through a densely populated area that required extensive instrumentation and monitoring works to be carried out to ensure safety of the public and existing infrastructure. Moreover, the TBM crossed two times the Kwun Tong line of the Hong Kong MTR network, thus required real-time monitoring of the existing tunnel to ensure the safety of the MTR operation during the crossing.