A five-kilometer freeway tunnel is to be constructed to link Hong Kong to the new Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai border crossing with mainland China. Siemens is to supply all of the traffic control and monitoring systems for the twin-bore Liantang tunnel, which will have an overall length of approximately five kilometers. The tunnel forms part of a four-lane freeway link, extending to around eleven kilometers in total, intended to provide a new strategic direct connection for cross-border freight and passenger vehicle traffic between the Northeast New Territories and the Eastern part of Shenzhen on the Chinese mainland. The project will become the longest road tunnel in Hong Kong on completion in 2022.
Siemens is to supply the complete solution, including hardware and software plus numerous subsystems to facilitate a safe and efficient flow of traffic in the tunnel. The centerpiece will be the International Tunnel Control Center (ITCC), which will use Simatic WinCC open architecture for the operations control system. The ITCC will draw on real-time data to assess conditions in the tunnel and decide on actions to optimize traffic flow taking account of all pertinent safety aspects. Automated incident and congestion detection, emergency management for accidents, tunnel closure and contraflow management are just some of the main functions provided by the ITCC.
The Southern Chinese city of Shenzhen intends to create six separate links with the Hong Kong special administrative region to improve transport integration between the two. The six link projects planned (the Liantang road link, the Longhua railroad link, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong passenger rail link in Fujian, Dachan Gulf Harbor, the Nan’an tourist link and a sub-sea tunnel connecting the airports of Shenzhen and Hong Kong) will connect Shenzhen and Hong Kong by road, rail and sea.
Original Source: Siemens
