A view of high-speed trains at the China National Railway Test Center in Beijing on July 9. ZOU HONG/CHINA DAILY
Beijing: Amid the nation’s push to perfect its high-speed rail (HSR) network, a key system has made steady headway as the world’s longest ballastless track bridge with continuous girders traversing China’s second-longest river finished casting all ballastless tracks.
Workers from state-builder China Railway No. 4 Engineering Group (CREC4) ushered in the new achievement on the Yellow River Super Bridge, which uses some 43,000 tonnes of steel on its 1,600m-long body, on Oct 24 as part of a north-south HSR linking Xiong’an New Area in North China’s Hebei province with Shangqiu in Central China’s Henan province.
The 552km Xiong’an-Shangqiu HSR is part of the 639km Beijing-Xiong’an-Shangqiu HSR, which aims to boost the development of Xiong’an, which was established in April 2017.
CREC4 employee Zang Pengqi said the Xiong’an-Shangqiu section of the Beijing-Xiong’an-Shangqiu HSR is also a key section of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Taiwan HSR, included in the country’s “eight verticals and eight horizontals” HSR network.
Following the recently concluded fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, a communique was issued on Oct 23 highlighting the importance of boosting China’s strength in transportation and developing a modernised infrastructure system.
China National Railway Group, the nation’s railway operator, said currently, the country’s HSR network spans about 48,000km, accounting for 70% of the world’s total.
To better support Chinese modernisation, the HSR network will steadily expand.
Zang said statistics show that China’s railway investment reached 433 billion yuan or about US$60.9bil in the first seven months of this year, a year-on-year hike of 5.6%. The country’s HSR mileage may surpass 50,000km by year-end.
Last year, the country’s fixed assets investment on railways hit 850.6 billion yuan, up 11.3% year-on-year and a record high, he said.
Zang disclosed that rail laying was expected to start on the Yellow River Super Bridge on Nov 2, with test operations of HSR trains scheduled to commence in February, and the formal operation of the whole line slated for September 2026.
CREC4 builders are undertaking the line’s No. 11 bid, or section 11 which extends for 17.38km, starting from Taiqian county in Henan’s Puyang and ending at Jining, which administers Liangshan county, Zang said.
He added that CREC4’s section involves an investment of 2.706 billion yuan.
Zang noted that the Beijing-Xiong’an-Shangqiu HSR will have 18 railway stations and the Xiong’an-Shangqiu section will have 16 stations, allowing trains to run at a designed speed of 350kmh. — China Daily/ANN
