China - December 23, 2024 Chinese-made tunnel-boring machine flexes its power in Istanbul (Voice_over) A massive tunnel-boring machine made by a Chinese company is up and running in Instanbul, Türkiye. The CREC No 1294 from the China Railway Group features a cutterhead measuring roughly 14 meters in diameter and weighing approximately 3,000 tons. After 75 days of assembly this fall, the machine now is operational, carving out 13 meters of mountain rock per day. (Sound_bite) Wang Jianwei, Chinese technical manager, Sarıyer-Kilyos highway project: "The mountain is very deep, with the deepest point reaching 172 meters. The water pressure could be more than five kilograms. In this case, water will rush in. Our tunnel boring machine will smoothly discharge the slag from the high-water-pressure areas and high-mountain areas without putting workers in any danger." (Voice_over) The CREC No 1294 is the largest-diameter earth pressure balance shield machine exported overseas by a Chinese company. Once finished, the mountain tunnel highway is expected to reduce commuter travel times in parts of the city by 30 minutes. [Restriction: No access Chinese mainland]