On November 28, the first phase of Shenzhen Metro Line 6 Branch started initial operation as another driverless metro line that has been commissioned in Shenzhen after the Metro Line 20 with CASCO’s contribution.

Opening of Shenzhen Metro Line 6 Branch

The first phase of Shenzhen Metro Line 6 Branch starts from Guangming Station of Metro Line 6 in Guangming District and ends at the border between Shenzhen and Dongguan, with a total length of about 6.13 km. Four stations and four sections were built, namely Guangming Station, Zhenmei Station, Zhongda Station and Shenligong Station. Among them, the Guangming Station is the interchange station of Line 6 Branch and Line 6, and conditions for extension to Dongguan and the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone are reserved. This line is a demonstration project to promote the construction of Shenzhen-Dongguan integration and realize the cross-city synergistic development of rail transit.

CASCO provided the CBTC signaling system with driverless function and the highest grade of automation (GoA4) for the first phase of Shenzhen Metro Line 6 Branch, and served as the project consistency coordinator, shouldering the mission of communication and coordination of the core subsystems.

Since the start of the project construction, CASCO project team has overcome three major challenges to ensure the successful delivery of the project.

The first was the short equipment delivery cycle, combined with the influence of the repeated epidemic on production and delivery around the country. To this end, the project team actively promoted the allocation and preparation of spare parts on the one hand, and strengthened communication with various projects in the same period on the other hand, mobilizing the whole company to allocate resources and finally solving the problem of supply in urgent situations. In the meantime, since activities such as factory visits could not be arranged due to the epidemic, video factory inspections were carried out to speed up the delivery of equipment.

Installation check

The second was the absence of a dedicated depot, which brought difficulties for the commissioning work of Line 6 Branch. The Line 6 Branch shares a depot with the existing Line 6, and trains entering and exiting the depot every day have to be switched from the existing line, exponentially increasing the difficulties in the commissioning management and operation coordination of the project. To improve the efficiency of train switching operation and reduce the impact on the existing line, CASCO optimized and perfected the switching process after repeated discussions with the owner and actual operation drills on site, which shortened the switching operation time and greatly reduced the impact on the existing line.

Turnout operation under station control and CC static commissioning

The third was the tight schedule and arduous task. It took three months, from June 15 to September 16, to complete the commissioning of each function of the fully automatic system. During this period, CASCO bravely took on the responsibility, actively coordinated with all parties, fully mobilized the resources in the track area through thoughtful planning, divided the personnel into 3 shifts, and realized the 24-hour uninterrupted commissioning, laying a solid foundation for the opening of the project as scheduled.

Re-testing and inspection of equipment before opening

With the opening of Shenzhen Metro Line 6 Branch, Shenzhen Metro Line 16, in which CASCO is involved, has also entered the critical stage before its opening. CASCO will continue to make efforts to ensure the completion of the project and delivery with high standards and requirements, helping Shenzhen Metro to expand its coverage, and contributing to the construction of the rail network of the Great Bay Area.