China News Service, Nanchong, October 1 (Reporter Liu Zhongjun) In the early morning of October 1, at the construction site of Nanchong North Station in Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, as the first set of 500-meter-long steel rails fell steadily, the track laying construction of the Chengdu-Dazhou-Wanzhou High-speed Railway (hereinafter referred to as the "Chengda-Wanzhou High-speed Railway") officially started.
The track-laying machine drags the long track slowly forward outside the entrance of the Erbaoshan Tunnel of the Chengdu-Wanzhou High-speed Railway. Photo by reporter Liu Zhongjun
The Chengda-Wanzhou high-speed railway is an important part of China's "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed rail network along the river. The line starts from Tianfu Station in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province in the west, passes through Ziyang City, Suining City, Nanchong City, Dazhou City, Sichuan Province, Kaizhou District and Wanzhou District of Chongqing City, and connects to the existing Zhengzhou-Chongqing High-speed Railway Wanzhou North Station. The main line is 477 kilometers long and has a design speed of 350 kilometers per hour.
The reporter saw at the track laying operation site that the long rail was slowly unloaded from the long rail car driven by the track laying tractor. The whole process was smooth and orderly. After the rails were pulled into place, the workers made fine adjustments to accurately drop them and tightened the fastener nuts on the sleepers, and the rail laying was completed.
At the track laying site, the master workers used steel drills to adjust the position of the rails so that they could fall into place at once. Photo by reporter Liu Zhongjun
It is understood that the total track laying mileage of the entire line is about 890 kilometers, of which the main line is about 853 kilometers and the station line is about 37 kilometers. It contains 178 sets of switches, including 133 sets of ballastless turns and 45 sets of ballast turns. "The first paving site was chosen at Nanchong North Station because it is located at the midpoint of the Chengdu-Wanzhou high-speed railway, which can realize two-way track laying and is close to the operating railway line, which facilitates rail transportation." Zhang Wen, head of track laying of the Chengda-Wan high-speed railway project of China Railway Third Bureau, said that in order to ensure the smooth progress of track laying The project department invested in 2 sets of track-laying equipment, 14 professional construction locomotives, 7 rail cars, and equipped 64 fixed group cranes to form an intelligent hoisting cluster. The 500-meter-long rails were simultaneously lifted, accurately traversed, and positioned at the millimeter level, making the loading and unloading operations intelligent.
However, track laying is not easy. There are 30‰ large ramps and long tunnels in Dazhou and Suining. The space is limited and equipment rotation is difficult. Changes in temperature and humidity inside the tunnels can easily cause deformation of the rails. To this end, the construction unit optimized the ramp parameters of the WZ500 track laying machine, established three major guarantee systems of quality, safety, and emergency response, and specially formulated a long tunnel construction plan; through process optimization, equipment improvement, and plan rehearsal, the grouping, ventilation, and temperature and humidity in the tunnel were carefully controlled to accurately advance track laying under special working conditions.
The track-laying operation site is close to the existing operating railway line and Nanchong North Station, and an EMU is slowing down to enter the station. Photo by reporter Liu Zhongjun
Zhang Zongwei, commander of the Dazhou Construction Headquarters of the Chengda-Wan High-Speed Railway Company, said that the construction of pile foundations, caps, and piers of bridges across the entire line has been completed, and the tunnels, station buildings, and "four power" projects are being progressed in an orderly manner.
