The construction of Phase I of the Shenzhen Metro system has set nine records, according to Chen Yuming, chairperson of the Shenzhen Metro Company.

One was replacing six pile foundations under a big downtown shopping mall, each with a bearing capacity of 1,890 tons.

"This is world record," said Chen.

Another was replacing pile foundations under the Hong Kong-Shenzhen-Guangzhou railway.

"We set the first example in China because the railway did not stop operating for one single minute while we were replacing the foundations," said Chen Xiangsheng, chief engineer of the Metro company.

The third record was set when building two tunnels one below the other, for a length of 1,055 meters. They are China's longest metro tunnels built in tiers.

A section of road was reinforced with a large span truss until underground digging was completed for two metro stations. It was the first time that had been done in China.

The transfer station at the Convention and Exhibition Center is China's first intersecting two-tier subway station for lines 1 and 4 constituting the fifth record.

Another record was established with Luohu Station becoming China's largest subway station, with floor space of 53,000 square meters.

The seventh record was set in using a rubber, floating shock-absorbing roadbed, which has been used in China for the first time.

The eighth record was the use of on-site construction of a shock-absorbing floating roadbed with metal springs and the final record was set by welding the rails inside the tunnel. Before that, all China's subway rails were welded outside tunnels.

Editor: Catherine