Technology takes railway to new level
By Zhao Huanxin (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-06-26 08:35
The new Qinghai-Tibet Railway line, the highest on earth, will endure
the harsh conditions along the "Roof of the World" thanks to new technology and
constant monitoring.
Vice-Minister of Railways Sun Yongfu said: "It is a
railway we've made a whole lot of innovations and breakthroughs with. No other
country could build a railway on as high permafrost as this."
With most
of the new 1,110-kilometre track being laid at altitudes above 4,000 metres, the
line crosses 550 kilometres of permafrost.
Based on preparatory work
carried out over the past four decades, Chinese engineers have used stone slabs
to build embankments that cool without breaking up, and thrust steel tubes into
the ground along some parts of the route, to transmit heat from beneath the icy
surface.
"We built bridges rather than causeways on extremely
unstable permafrost regions," Sun told China Daily.
"Construction on the
permafrost regions appears to be of excellent quality. During our trial runs
this month, trains have been rattling by at up to 100 kilometres an hour, much
faster than trains on railways in permafrost regions in other countries, which
can only travel at up to 70 kilometres an hour."
Despite the current
stability of the recently completed track, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Corp, the
railway's sole operator, will have to work to ensure the line endures standing
on the permafrost in the long term, he said.
A long-term permafrost
monitoring system has been installed to check for changes in ground temperature
and any deformities in the rail bed, according to Zhang Luxin, a senior expert
with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Contingency measures have also been
put in place to protect the track from the worst hazard affecting the
plateau global warming, said Sun.
"We have taken account of the
impact of global warming, but if the temperature rises too much, extra solutions
will have to be found," he conceded.
Sun also said his ministry would
spare no effort in addressing the railway's environmental repercussions.
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