Technology takes line 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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