Silent construction process underway

"It's unbelievable. The Port Klang Line will have completed construction and opened to traffic before we know it,” said Zhang Cheng, whose hot pot restaurant is located near the line’s Sentul Station.

The construction of the three stations, emergency well and double-line tunnel of the Port Klang Line was undertaken by the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).

Due to the fact that many protected buildings are scattered along the line, including an Indian temple, the Royal Theater of Malaysia and a hospital, the project requires adopting European standards with the ground settlement not exceeding 1 centimeter, while the industry standard is 3 centimeters.

Faced with stringent construction standards and requirements, the project team held many meetings to decide the construction scheme, especially for the Hospital Kuala Lumpur MRT station.

The Hospital Kuala Lumpur MRT station is a three-layer structure with a span of 55 meters. Inside the station, 18 steel pipes combined with reinforced concrete composite columns have been used for structural support. The reinforced concrete columns are inserted into the cast-in-place piles below. During the pouring of the piles beneath the columns, it is almost unavoidable for slurry to mix into the concrete and flow into the steel pipes, causing a certain degree of reduction in the load-bearing capacity of the entire pile.

In order to reduce ground settlement, the project team innovatively developed a new installation device for rectangular steel pipe concrete columns. The project team then "wrapped" the steel pipes with a 5-millimeter thick, 6-meter high steel plate to enhance their load-bearing capacity. At the same time, in the new device structure, the tool column, ground support device, and guide frame work together to improve installation accuracy. The structure is also optimized to be lightweight and adopts bolt connections to improve construction efficiency.

In addition, during tunnel construction, the team also developed a "double-hinged shield machine for small radius curved excavation technology in weak layers" and "dual-liquid grouting technology for the rapid consolidation of cohesive soil in 14 seconds" to ensure the safe and smooth excavation of the shield machine in a 300-meter small radius curved soft soil layer. Through their efforts, the team successfully controlled ground settlement to within 1 centimeter.

Days and nights of meticulous work saw the construction team ensure the normal function of existing buildings throughout their work. After fully operational, the Port Klang Line can accommodate over 100,000 passengers daily, providing safe and efficient transportation for more than two million residents along the line.