China has developed the world’s first boring-and-blasting machine, a new class of equipment designed to meet the challenges of tunnelling through complex geologies, as the country pushes forward with its infrastructure expansion.Co-developed by Tsinghua University and a unit of state-owned China Railway Group, the “Xianglong” – with a diameter of 4.5 metres – rolled off the line in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province.The hybrid machine is smaller than conventional tunnel boring equipment but has the ability to integrate excavation with built-in drilling and blasting that boosts hard-rock digging efficiency by 30 per cent, according to a statement issued by the Hubei provincial government on Sunday.Standard tunnel boring machines start to slow down in extremely hard or fractured mountain rock, which has led to delays in major infrastructure projects, the provincial government said. The new technology, built entirely with a domestic supply chain, was designed to address this problem.The hybrid rig would undergo its first on-site trial at a pumped-storage power plant being built in Henan province by a subsidiary of state-owned Power Construction Corporation of China.Representatives of the workers who contributed to the manufacturing of the boring and blasting machine pose for a group photo in Wuhan last Saturday. Photo: XinhuaThe launch of the machine comes as China accelerates infrastructure expansion involving deep-tunnel and underground cavern projects, PowerChina noted. Achieving “efficient, green and intelligent construction” through complex rock formations has become a “critical bottleneck for the industry”, it said.