China's Secret Tunnel Weapon: Hybrid Machine Merges Blasting and Boring

Engineers in China have developed the world's first Blast Boring Machine (BBM), a hybrid tunneling device that combines mechanical drilling with controlled explosions. The system is designed to increase excavation speeds by 30% when working in unstable ground conditions where traditional equipment often fails due to risks of collapse or sudden mud inflows. The project was realized through a partnership between the China Railway Science and Industry Research Institute (CRSIC) and researchers from Tsinghua University. The goal was to eliminate the choice between slow drill-and-blast methods and high-speed tunnel boring machines (TBMs), as standard TBMs frequently face accidents when encountering soft rock and water-bearing layers. Dmitry Lapshin, physicist: "Combining mechanical drilling and directed explosions in one unit allows the crossing of complex sections without stopping the conveyor. It changes the very physics of rock destruction."