Assembling a Metro station with 'building blocks'

The Huaxia Station on Metro Line 6 Phase II is among Shenzhen’s first of seven Metro stations to be assembled with prefabricated components that are comparable to building blocks in a “Lego” set. Assembling such pre-made cement and steel "building blocks" in the underground construction sites can greatly reduce the total time needed to construct a Metro station from beginning to end. More than 70% of the Huaxia Station will be assembled this way.

In order to manage and control the precise lifting and positioning of these prefabricated segments, usually huge in size and weight, the industrial builder company PowerChina adopted an independently developed 180-ton intelligent gantry crane and a special self-balancing rotating spreader to lift these ready-made parts into the right places and assemble them one by one.

These photos reflect the progress taking place at the construction site of Huaxia Station this past Wednesday. 

A construction worker watches as a gantry crane lifts a prefabricated component used to build the bottom slab of the station. Photos by Xinhua

Construction workers fine-tune the positioning of some prefabricated components. 

A construction worker assists in the installation of the prefabricated segments. 

An employee operates a gantry crane to lift a prefabricated bottom slab component.

Construction workers help assemble prefabricated components.

An intelligent gantry crane lifts a prefabricated component.

An intelligent gantry crane lifts a prefabricated component used to build the bottom slab of the station.

The assembly construction site of Huaxia Station.