Approximately 31 kilometers of rail line had been laid by Wednesday
on the Qinghai-Tibet railway, the highest in the world, since its
construction began June 29.
Construction has been going smoothly after a series of technical
problems were solved such as high-altitude cold, water and oxygen
shortages and frozen earth, according to construction department
sources.
Rail-laying hit a record speed of 400 meters per hour without
jeopardizing project quality and security, said the sources. The
builders laid a 6,001-meter-long section in a matter of 21 hours,
records showed.
Zou Zongtong, an official with the rail-laying sector, said that
the maximum rail-laying speed on the Qinghai-Tibet rail route was
equivalent to that of an ordinary railway built on a plain thanks
to a series of technological innovations.
The management was highly concerned with quality and security while
speeding up the construction process, Zou added.
The 1,118-km railway will extend from Lhasa, the capital of the
Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China, to Golmud city in
Qinghai
province in the northwest. It will be the longest and highest
railway in the world.
According to the construction schedule, 115 kilometers of railway
will be completed by the end of this year.
More than 960 kilometers, or over four-fifths of the railway will
be built at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters. And more than
half of it will be laid on earth that has been frozen for a long
time.
Observers say that China has been thinking of building the
Qinghai-Tibet railway for over 50 years. The rapid economic growth
and technological advances over the past two decades have given the
country enough impetus to complete the project.
(Xinhua News
Agency July 25, 2002)