Last tunnel through! The Western Railway will be open to traffic soon

At 11:30 on November 19, with a blast, the Arjin mountain tunnel was opened. This is the longest tunnel in the whole line of geku railway, and the last one, with a total length of 13.195 km. It will be soon to open the whole line of geku railway. At present, it takes 26 hours by car from Golmud in Qinghai to Korla in Xinjiang, and only 12 hours by train after the completion of geku railway.

Geku railway is a regional road network trunk line of passenger and freight lines, an important part of the Central South Channel of the three major railway channels of "linking the East with the west" in Xinjiang, and also a key railway construction project determined in China's "medium and long term railway network planning".

Geku railway starts from Golmud City, Qinghai Province in the East, passes through Altun mountain and Qaidam Basin in the west, and finally reaches Korla City, Xinjiang, with a total length of 1213.95 km. Among them, Xinjiang has a total length of 708km, which is a national class I electrified single track railway.

Altun mountain, in Mongolian, means "mountain with cypress". The altitude is between 3000 meters and 3600 meters. It is located in the cold zone of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. It is dry and dry with little rain. The temperature difference is large in four seasons, and the winter is long and cold.

Geku railway climbs the Altun mountain, which is more than 3000 meters away from Shanghai, and then descends to the foot of the mountain, which is more than 800 meters above sea level. In order to reduce the slope, it needs to cross the bridge, cross the tunnel, and meander among the mountains.

Altun mountain tunnel is the only first-class risk tunnel of geku railway. Its geological situation is very complex. It has to cross 11 fault zones, including 9 water rich areas. The water output in the tunnel is large, and the maximum daily water output is 27000 cubic meters, which is equivalent to the water storage of 10 standard swimming pools. Railway builders often work in "rain".

In the construction area of arjinshan tunnel, there are often bad geology such as karst, swelling rock, high ground stress, fault fracture and water rich zone. "Especially under the geological conditions of expansive rock, it is equivalent to tunneling in 'sponge'. When the expansive rock absorbs the water vapor in the air, it will burst when it reaches the saturation concentration, which will directly affect the personal safety, construction progress and quality." Introduction to the person in charge of the construction unit.

Xinjiang Railway Construction and construction units focus on creating excellent projects, innovating construction technology, taking measures of waterproof board + thermal insulation board + waterproof board for the design of cold and heat preservation of tunnels, overcoming the problem of cold and heat preservation of tunnels under the plateau cold environment, improving economic benefits, accelerating construction progress, and accumulating experience for the follow-up similar environment construction.

Geku railway passes through Altun Mountain National Wildlife Nature Reserve and Lop Nur Wild Camel nature reserve. Railway builders integrate the concept of ecological environment protection into every detail of the construction, and take measures such as changing the construction scheme into a bridge and bypassing the line to protect the streams and water sources in the no man's land.

After the railway is completed and put into operation, Xinjiang will form a pattern of "one main and two auxiliary" with Lanzhou Xinjiang Railway and Lanzhou Xinjiang high speed railway as the main channel, Ejina Xinjiang Hami railway in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as the north channel and Golmud Xinjiang Korla railway in Qinghai Province as the south channel.