Tunnel excavation on Suzhou Rail Transit (SRT) Line S1 recently kicked off to the sound of tunnel shield machines roaring underground, with construction on Yujiadenghuo and Luchenglu Stations officially underway.

Situated to the east of the Yangcheng Lake East Bridge, Yujiadenghuo Station will be the first stop along SRT Line S1 in Kunshan after departing from Suzhou Industrial Park. The station has been designed as an underground two-story island platform with a length of 275 meters.

Likewise, Luchenglu Station will also be equipped with an island platform with a length of 196.6 meters.

The tunnel excavation between Yujiadenghuo Station and Yangcheng Lake South Station marks the first time that Suzhou Rail Transit has crossed Yangcheng Lake, and the shield-machined section is currently the longest of its kind in Suzhou.

At present, a total of 10 stations on SRT Line S1 are undergoing excavation, with construction on the main structures to follow. Three stations have finished principal roofing work, and five stations have completed construction of slurry walls and are now reinforcing the foundations and installing capping beams.

Connecting Shanghai in the east and Suzhou in the west, SRT Line S1 runs for 41.25 kilometers and has 28 stations in total. Starting from Weiting Station in SIP and ending at Huaqiao Station on Shanghai Metro Line 11, the whole ride takes only a little more than 50 minutes to complete.

Being a model of the Yangtze River Delta Integration Infrastructure Interconnection Project, the new line is expected to go into trial operation in 2023 and will become an important channel connecting Suzhou city proper, Kunshan, and Shanghai.