State-owned Chinese construction firm digs deep in Russia for growth

Sixty years ago, a group of the then Soviet experts arrived in Beijing to help dig the first metro railway in China. Today, Chinese construction workers are in Moscow helping build the city's newest underground line.

The project is being undertaken by China Railway Construction Corp, a State-owned construction firm, which won the bids for building the southwestern sector of the Moscow metro railway and station projects in 2017. It was also the first time that a Chinese company was participating in a Russian underground railway project.

"It is a milestone for the underground rail construction industry to get the projects, and it's also the first time for a Chinese metro construction team to win a bid in Europe, which means China's railway construction industry has entered the high-end market," said Xue Liqiang, project manager of CRCC in Russia.

In mid-September last year, the first shield machine "Polina", made by China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Group, was exported to Russia. By successfully completing the 200-meter drive tunnel required for the Moscow subway tunnel, the shield machine officially got international acceptance. This is the first of five shield machines independently developed by China, which was exported to Russia to work in an extremely cold environment.

The second shield machine "Maria" was specially modified for local temperatures and geography situation, and started to work in Moscow early this year when the temperature was-20 C.

Zhang Haijian, the deputy Party head of the CRCC Russian Corp, told China Daily that the "China speed" has impressed the Moscow authorities, and both construction speed and quality were of the highest level at all the 31 metro stations and 71-kilometer rail that were under construction by Russian and other foreign companies.

The excellent performance of "Maria" has also drawn attention from other railway construction companies in Russia, Germany and France.

The initial bidding comprised the construction of three metro stations and a 4.6-kilometer underground railway line. According to another extended contract with Moscow Metro and Moscow Engineering Design Academy, CRCC gained construction of another 1.6-kilometer underground railway, and the whole project is set to be completed in October 2020.