In Egypt's Ismailia Province, the main structure of the old Suez Canal railway bridge renovation and upgrading project undertaken by a Chinese company has been completed recently. At present, the construction personnel are speeding up the finishing to ensure early delivery to the Egyptian side.

The project is undertaken by a consortium composed of Sichuan Luqiao, a subsidiary of Shudao Group, and Sinoma International Chengdu Building Materials Industrial Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd. of China National Building Materials Group (referred to as Chengdu Building Materials Institute). According to Gou Yong, director of the Sichuan Road and Bridge Project, the old bridge is a single-track railway double-wing flat-swivel steel bridge, which will be upgraded to double-track two-way traffic after the renovation is completed. The reporter saw at the scene a few days ago that under the scorching sun, the construction personnel were scrambling to install ladders and walkways, and repaint the entire bridge. The 340-meter-span bridge on the east and west sides of the bridge started to rotate and dock smoothly and orderly.

The Suez Canal is located at the junction of Europe, Asia and Africa, connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the busiest trade routes for oil, refined fuels, grains and other goods between Asia and Europe. In recent years, with the in-depth integration of Egypt's "Vision 2030" and the "Suez Canal Corridor" development strategy with the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese companies have also participated in more and more projects in Egypt.

He Zhongjian, project manager of Chengdu Institute of Building Materials, said that the Suez Canal Railway Bridge connects Africa and Asia, and is of great significance in the joint construction of the Belt and Road project between China and Egypt. After completion, it will effectively promote the construction of the Suez Canal Corridor and the connection between the two continents. According to Mohamed Ibrahim, project manager of the bridge department of the Egyptian National Railway Administration, after the bridge is completed, the only railway connection between the west bank of the canal and the Sinai Peninsula will be restored, and railway transportation will be opened to East Said Port and Bir Abid City, North Sinai Province. channel, speed up the logistics of bulk goods, and effectively promote the construction of the Suez Canal Corridor.

"The reconstruction project of the old bridge is extremely difficult. The bridge slewing transmission device, hydraulic latch device, railway locking device, digital control system, etc. all need to be redesigned and replaced according to the requirements of the new contract. The bridge truss part needs to add or replace more than 3,500 components. It weighs more than 5,000 tons, and both installation and welding face challenges." Gou Yong said that in order to successfully complete the task, the consortium project construction team conducted many researches, demonstrations and refinements on the design and construction plan, and organized the technical team to carry out the rotation. Key functional devices such as transmission, hydraulic bolts, and railway locking have been technically tackled to ensure smooth rotation and reliable locking, and are smoothly disengaged after passing vehicles to restore the canal channel.

"At first, there were a lot of worries and doubts about whether the renovation of the old bridge could be successfully completed, but after the technical team continued to study and tackle key problems, we overcame challenges one by one, and finally we were able to make the old bridge complete an important stage in the process of rejuvenation. task." Gou Yong said that although the epidemic has affected the progress of the project, the owner highly recognizes the spirit of Chinese enterprises' adherence to the contract performance during the epidemic.

In He Zhongjian's view, Chinese standards are also recognized by the owners. "In the process of project design and implementation, we have conducted a lot of optimization consultations at home and abroad, and actively communicated with international design companies to introduce Chinese standards and schemes, which not only saved a lot of construction costs, but also made the scheme safer and more operable In the end, this plan was recognized by all parties," he said. Keywords: One Belt One Road, One Belt One Road News, One Belt One Road Project

"I learned to use a total station, GPS, level, and simple calculations, all of which were taught by my Chinese colleagues," said Karim Mohamed, an Egyptian employee, "They are all excellent engineers, and they will always be mine. good friend."Editor/XuNing