The 10th ITA Tunnelling and Underground Space Awards, widely regarded as the tunneling industry's "Oscars," were recently held in Genoa, Italy. Competing against major tunnelling and underground engineering projects worldwide, Qingdao Metro Line 6 Phase I distinguished itself through its innovative green construction technologies under challenging coastal geological conditions after a series of rigorous evaluations and presentations. The project won the prestigious Beyond Engineering Award, making it the only Chinese engineering project to receive this honor this year.

Phase I of Qingdao Metro Line 6 Project runs entirely within the Qingdao West Coast New Area (QWCNA), stretching 30.8 kilometers long from Lingshan Bay Station to Hengyunshan Road Station with 21 stations. Construction began in December 2019 and lasted for over four years, officially opening on April 26, 2024. The QWCNA construction division of Qingdao Metro Group overcame significant challenges during the project, completing the design, production, and assembly of prefabricated stations in just 10 months. This included the modular construction of six stations with a combined structural weight of 120,000 tons. Prefabrication was also applied to 19 components including platform slabs, staircases, equipment installations, and substations. Line 6 broke new ground by becoming the first metro line in China to use large-scale active support technology for underground stations, achieving international recognition for its innovation. The project also employed extensive shield tunneling operations utilizing a cluster of machines, achieving a mechanization rate of 91.6%. Aligned with sustainable development goals, Line 6 incorporates green technologies including a composite regenerative energy storage system that saves approximately 6 million kWh annually. The line integrates building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) at Hengyunshan Road Station and the Zhumashan depot with an installed capacity of 0.9 MW.