Prof Lixin Qian, Research Professor and Director of Science & Technology Department, China Academy of Railway Sciences
COMMENCING at the new Beijing West station, the northern half of the Jing-Jiu Railway lies between Chinese Railways' existing Beijing - Guangzhou and Beijing - Shanghai routes. Terminating at Kowloon (Jiulong) in Hong Kong, the line forms a major transport artery passing through the nine provinces of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shangdong, Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Jiangxi and Guangdong. The existing Kowloon-Canton Railway from Shenzhen becomes part of the Jing-Jiu Railway on July 1.
The total length of China's second north-south trunk line is 2397 km; this rises to 2553 km if branches to the major cities of Tianjin (from Bazhou) and Wuhan (from Macheng) are included. It is China's largest single, continuous railway construction project with works carried out on an unparalleled scale. The government has invested a total of 40bn yuan in the project, more than on any other railway built in China.
The line performs a strategic role by providing links to numerous east-west routes as it progresses south. It will thus have a major influence on the CR network, which now totals over 55000 route-km. Major automated marshalling yards have been constructed at the key junctions of Fuyang and Xiangtang West.
Design and construction
Built with future electrification in mind, the Jing-Jiu Railway is currently operated by diesel traction, with DF4B locomotives hauling freight trains up to 4000 tonnes at a maximum speed of 70 to 80 km/h and 18 to 20 coach passenger trains operating at up to 120 km/h behind DF4D units.
Much of the route has been constructed as a double track alignment from the outset, but in the south part of it is single track.
Double track runs from Beijing to Xiangtang West, and the branch from Bazhou to Tianjin also has two tracks. From Xiangtang West to Longchuan the alignment is single track on a double-track formation. Between Longchuan and Changping the route is single track, but it is expected to be doubled at a later date. A third track has been added on the busy section between Changping and Shenzhen. The branch from Macheng to Wuhan is single track.
The ruling gradient between Beijing and Fuyang is 0·4%, with 0·6% from there to Shenzhen. On the Tianjin - Bazhou branch it is 0·4%, and from Macheng to Wuhan 0·6%.
Minimum curve radius on the northern section between Beijing and Fuyang is 1000m, but this is relaxed to 400m in difficult locations. From Fuyang to Xiangtang West it is 800m or exceptionally 600m, and from Xiangtang West to Shenzhen 800m, with 400m permitted in some cases.
The length of passing loops and sidings is 1050m on the section from Beijing to Fuyang, and from there to Xiangtang West provision is made for the same length, although the track is only laid for 850m. Between Xiangtang West and Shenzhen trains must be able to fit into sidings 850m long.
On double-track sections, automatic block signalling with overspeed protection has been installed; single-track sections have been equipped with semi-automatic block equipment.
Signalling and telecommunications systems include optic fibre-based digital data transmission, radio dispatching, microcomputer-controlled interlockings and traffic control supervision.
Programme of work
Construction of the entire line, except for the bridge over the Yangtse river completed earlier, began in January 1993. The schedule allowed three years for civil works and one year for installation of fixed equipment. The programme involved over 130000 people from various engineering and construction bureaux, survey & design institutes and railway administrations, as well as the China Academy of Railway Sciences.
By the end of 1994, 91% of the infrastructure was largely complete, and work had begun on buildings along the route. Among the more challenging construction jobs were seven major bridges, four tunnels and two stations forming important junctions. There was also a section where the soft ground required special treatment before the formation could be laid.
Six of the bridges, 80% of the tunnelling work, the soft ground treatment and the formation for the two junctions were all completed by the end of 1994.
Civil works and tracklaying were finished on November 16 1995, including 260 million m3 of earthworks, 207 km of bridges and viaducts, 56 km of tunnel and the installation of 4281 sets of turnouts. During 1996, 202 stations and yards were built, 2273 km of optic fibre cable was laid and 4000 km of power lines erected.
The Jing-Jiu Railway was officially opened from Beijing to Shenzhen on September 1 1996 (RG 10.96 p611), when the first passenger service left the Chinese capital for Shenzhen over the new route. Completion of the railway is of great practical significance and will have a far-reaching impact, providing much-needed additional capacity between north and south China and furthering the social and economic development of the nation.
By enhancing links between central China, Hong Kong and Macao, the Jing-Jiu Railway will contribute to the prosperity and stability of these regions.
Innovation cuts construction time
Adoption of the latest technology made the task of building the Jing-Jiu Railway considerably easier and quicker than with other new lines. During the surveying and design phase, extensive use was made of aerial photography, remote sensing and computer technology to ensure a high standard of design.
Abundant ground water presented something of a problem at the northern end of the railway, where ground composed mainly of sandy clay soil was susceptible to scouring after heavy rain. In the middle section of the route the ground was prone to expand when wet, a potential cause of problems with run-off water.
These conditions were particularly acute on the Wuxue - Konglong - Xiaochikou section where a 30 km stretch of saturated mud was encountered. Ground treatment here formed one of the project's major engineering tasks, and advanced construction methods were adopted to ensure that over 95% of the subgrade on this section met required density standards.
The New Austrian Tunnelling Method was extensively used for all 150 tunnels on the route, involving full-face excavation with reinforced shotcrete support. Comprehensive water treatment work was undertaken, and the bores were subsequently grouted and fitted with a double lining.
Passing through five river basins and crossing the Yellow, Huaihe and Yangtse rivers, the Jing-Jiu Railway required construction of over 1110 bridges using modern techniques such as super low-height concrete beams and long spans.
Of the route's 64 major structures, the double-deck road and rail crossing of the Yangtse river at Jiujiang forms China's longest bridge at 7675m, with a maximum span of 216m. Construction of the 2656m Ganjiang river bridge at Ji'an required the building of 73 piers and abutments, with piles driven more than 50m deep through limestone strata up to 18·5m thick.
Route capacity
The Jing-Jiu Railway has been designed with an annual capacity of 70 million gross tonnes on the Beijing - Fuyang section, 50 MGT between Fuyang and Xiangtang and an initial 20 MGT on the Xiangtang - Longchuan section.
At present southbound freight movements predominate over northbound flows, and with few mines and other originators of bulk commodities along the route there is more through than local traffic, most of which terminates along the line. The line's main task initially is to move coal from western and northern China to the east and the south; terminating coal loads account for over 40% of local traffic.
By 2000 each kilometre of route will on average be handling 4 to 5 million passengers and 30 to 50 million tonnes. Traffic density will vary considerably, with the Suning - Hengshui, Heze - Shangqui and Shangqui - Fuyang portions expected to handle 50 million tonnes.
There are at present six to 12 pairs of daily passenger trains on the route. In the future CR plans to introduce through services from Beijing to Kowloon, Tianjin, Liaocheng, Shangqui, Wuchang, Hefei and Nanchang; from Guangzhou to Ganzhou and Nanchang; and from Tianjin to Guangzhou and Wuchang. Nanchang - Shangqui, Xuzhou - Wuchang, Xi'an - Hangzhou and Shijiazhuang - Shanghai services are also envisaged.
Over the next 5 to 10 years, investment along the line will concentrate on infrastructure and industrial development. Construction materials will be required for highway and electrical power projects, prior to the establishment of hard currency-earning agriculture and food processing. Development of fertiliser, textile, petrochemical and coal industries will also take place.
Future construction
A programme of new line construction, upgrading and capacity improvements is planned for completion before 2000 to exploit the opportunities created by the Jing-Jiu Railway to the full. At Suning, the railway will connect with the 804 km Suxian - Huanghua Port line that could bring 300000 tonnes of coal a year from Shanxi province to the Jing-Jiu route. Coal traffic will also flow via Heze from the existing Xinxiang - Yanzhou route, which is to be doubled.
The proposed Jinan - Handan route, to connect with the Handan - Changzhi line and the Jing-Jiu Railway at Liaocheng, would form another coal corridor from Shanxi province. Access from the Jing-Jiu line to the coast of Fujian province would be improved by the Meizhou - Longyan line. Designed to connect with the Jing-Jiu route at Hengchuan, the Nanjing - Xi'an route would form a direct link between the Yangtse Delta region and northwestern China, bringing much extra freight traffic to the new route. Junction upgrading is planned at Fengtai West (Beijing), Nancang (Tianjin), Shangqui and Wuhan before 2000.
After 2000, construction is due to begin on four more routes:
- Jiujiang - Tongling, significantly shortening the distance from Wuhan and Jiujiang to Nanjing and Shanghai;
- Datong - Baoding - Bazhou - Tianjin, to move coal from the Datong mines to consumers in Tianjin;
- Shaoguan - Ganzhou - Longyan, to connect the Jing-Jiu Railway to coastal regions in Fujian province;
- Jiujiang - Quxian, to link the Jing-Jiu Railway with the Beijing - Guangzhou, Hefei - Nanchang and Hangzhou - Nanchang routes. o
CAPTION: The last section of rail on the Jing-Jiu Railway was laid on November 16 1995 at a ceremony on the Dinghe river bridge
CAPTION: At Jiujiang the line crosses the Yangtse river on a 7675m long bridge
CAPTION: The 4455m Wuzhishan tunnel is the longest on the route
CAPTION: Space has been left for a second track in the Qingyunshan tunnel between Ganzhou and Longchuan
CAPTION: Marshalling yard at Fuyang where the line intersects the east-west route lining Ankang and Xiangfan with Nanjing and Shanghai
CAPTION: Chinese Vice Minister Cai Qinghua inspects work at Jiujiang station
CAPTION: Special construction methods had to be used for this embankment where it crosses soft ground at Konglong near Jiujiang
CAPTION: A passenger train crosses the Huizhou Dongjiang bridge near the southern end of the line
CAPTION: This 2656m long bridge takes the railway over the Ganjiang river at Ji'an
CAPTION: Single track has been laid on the bridge built to take two tracks over the Ganjiang river at Taihe, south of Ji'an
Key to Jing-Jiu line construction project numbers
1 Branch to Tianjin
2 Weiyunhe bridge
3 Sunkou Yellow river bridge
4 Yinghe river bridge
5 Huaihe river bridge
6 Konlong - Jiujiang special soft ground formation
7 Jiujiang Yangtse river bridge (7 675 m)
8 Ji'an Ganjiang river bridge (2 656 m)
9 Taihe Ganjiang river bridge
10 Qiling tunnel
11 Lwigongshan and Qingyunshan tunnels
12 Wuzhishan
13 Branch to Wuhan
Numbers in red circles on map
Jing-Jiu line stations
New stations have been built at each end of the route: Beijing West (above) and Shenzhen (left)
Right: Intermediate stations offer contrasting styles in architecture
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