Shield Machine for Tokyo’s Katsushima Pumping Station Completed

Tokyo, June 23, 2009 — Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. announced today that it has completed an articulated slurry shield machine with a diameter of 10.3 m. The order for the shield machine came from a joint venture formed by Maeda Corporation, Konoike Construction Co., Ltd. and Nippon Engineering Consultants Co., Ltd. The shield machine will be used for a Japan Sewage Works Agency construction project commissioned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The ongoing project, involving the excavation of a 980-meter stretch of a pumping station inlet sewer, is designed to prevent inundation and improve water quality in Tokyo’s canal waterfront area.

The slurry shield machine is the world’s first 10-meter class shield machine to employ an articulated steering system that enables it to turn either left or right at up to an 11 degree angle. This ability enables the machine to carve out an S-shape curved section with a radius of 30 meters. After it is completed at Kawasaki’s Harima Works, the machine will be disassembled and transported to the construction site where it will be reassembled in July 2009 and put into operation this November.

In the face of continuing rapid growth, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has been working to boost its pumping station capacity. Modifications to existing pumping stations will enable the facilities to adequately handle increasing wastewater and stormwater runoff while the construction of a new pumping station will improve the water quality of Tokyo’s canal waterfront. The slurry shield machine will be used in a construction project designed to take stormwater that now drains into two rivers running through the heart of Tokyo and redirect it to the new pumping station.

Kawasaki has supplied more than 1,400 shield machines and tunnel boring machines (TBMs) around the world. Today Kawasaki enjoys the Japan’s largest share of the large shield machine market, selling over 30% of all machines with a diameter of 10 meters or more. The road ahead looks bright as Kawasaki continues to move forward with an eye to carving out an even bigger piece of the global TBM market pie.