Bangladesh in July is as hot as in previous years, but the Padma River in July is different from the past. A magnificent "Dream Bridge" spans the river, so that the barriers that have existed for thousands of years no longer exist. After eight years of construction, this bridge carrying the dream of Bangladeshis will benefit countless local people.

Over the past eight years, under the cultivation of scientific mechanisms and the tempering of the construction site, a number of outstanding individuals and outstanding teams have emerged in the Padma Bridge and Railway Link Project Department. In the words of Liu Jianhua, deputy general manager of China Railway Bridge Bureau and project manager of the Padma Bridge, the project team is a team with "firm will, tenacious style, excellent quality and ability to fight tough battles". Now, let us approach such a group of talents and review their struggles overseas.

Rooted in Bangladesh to show strength

From the first time I went to Bangladesh to participate in the construction of the third Karafuri Bridge, to the later Padma Bridge, and then to the current bridge railway connection line, I am currently the project manager and party working committee of the Padma Bridge Railway Connection Line Project Department of China Railway Bridge Bureau. The deputy secretary of the Yu regime has been in Bangladesh for more than 10 years.

"In 2007, the construction of the Kaafri Three Bridges was the first time for me to go abroad and work as an international project leader. I felt a lot of responsibility and pressure," said Yu Zhengqi. Bangladesh is hot and humid and rainy, with a maximum temperature of 45°C in a year. There is a shortage of building materials, and many materials need to be imported from abroad, which is a great test for the on-site construction of the project. China Railway Bridge Bureau has demonstrated to Bangladesh the level of Chinese bridge-building enterprises through the construction of the third Karafuri bridge, and won the Luban Award for China Construction Overseas Projects.

The Padma River is turbulent, twice as fast as the Yangtze River. The river is 6 kilometers wide. The riverbed is a sand layer composed of fine sand and silt. The difficulty of building bridges is rare in the world. After 16 months of load test pile tests, Yu Zhengzheng and his team, who was the project manager of the Padma Bridge Project Department of the Fourth Company of the Bridge Bureau, and his team used the original triangular oblique pile driving technology of the Bridge Bureau, as well as the 3,600-ton piling technology independently developed by the Bridge Bureau. The crane ship finally drove the "Big Mac" steel piles with a length of more than 120 meters, a diameter of 3 meters and a weight of 550 tons into the riverbed. Yu Regime introduced that there are often instant hurricanes near the bridge site from March to May, without any warning, the destructive power is very large, and it brings great challenges to the construction technology, technology and equipment of the bridge, which requires a lot of research. Verification works. China's advanced technology and the professionalism and professionalism of the Chinese personnel have left a deep impression on the Bangladeshi personnel.

The Padma Bridge Railway Link Project is an important part of the South Railway Channel of the "Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor", and it is the project with the largest single contract value of the two excellent loans of the Chinese government in recent years. "The impact of the work efficiency of overseas projects on the cost is far greater than the impact of the unit price on the cost. Therefore, working quickly is the greatest saving." Yu Zhengzheng said, for example, the project department optimized the construction plan ahead of time in light of the site conditions, using concrete beam segment prefabrication Construction techniques such as assembly construction, multi-span simply supported steel truss bridge jacking construction, and changing part of the water cofferdam construction to island construction are used to formulate methods for rapid construction. The project department strictly guarded against squatting, blocking, rushing, and rework, and completed the first box girder erection within 69 days of obtaining the pile foundation drawings, achieving the goal of 50 meters for the Richeng Bridge, creating Bangladesh's "China Speed" and winning It has been highly praised by Bangladeshi owners and all sectors of society.

"During the construction of the Padma Bridge Railway Link Project, we focused on the capacity building of the talent team, adhering to the bridge bureau's fine tradition of 'passing, helping, and leading', creating a learning organization, opening overseas forums, bringing in and sending out , strengthen the training and study of professional knowledge such as foreign business communication, international norms and standards, and cultivate overseas young talents.” Yu Zhengli introduced, at the same time, the project department adopted the joint operation mode of Chinese employees and Bangladeshi employees, and employed about 2,000 Bangladeshi employees as employees. Engineering construction services, including Bangladeshi Chinese students, Bangladeshi college students, etc., cover middle-level managers, technicians and field workers, forming a relatively complete "selection, employment, education and retention" system for Bangladeshi talents, increasing the per capita output value , reducing labor costs.

"In foreign countries, it is my mission and responsibility to do a good job in projects, help local people realize their dreams, develop the economy, improve people's livelihood, and reflect the responsibility and responsibility of Chinese enterprises," said Yu Zhengzheng.

Scientific mechanism to educate talents

When the news that Hu Dinggang won the first place in the bridge knowledge competition for young employees of China Railway Bridge Bureau came back, the Padma Connection Line Project Department exploded, and everyone was very excited and overjoyed.

It is hard to imagine that this technician who won the title of "Young Post Expert" was just a newcomer in the summer of three years ago. At that time, he just arrived at the project department, and he was suffering from acclimatization.

Hu Dinggang's rapid growth is inseparable from the talent training plan carefully constructed by the project department. According to him, in terms of cultivating young employees, the project department has planned the "Trilogy of Youth Growth" plan, which has benefited him a lot.

The first is cordial communication and in-depth care. In August 2019, when Hu Dinggang and a group of new employees first came to the project, many people's thoughts fluctuated greatly. The leaders of the project department organized a symposium, and the new employees spoke freely and joked. Some colleagues said that the dishes in the kitchen were a bit spicy, and the person in charge immediately told the kitchen to put less pepper. The leaders also popularized local customs: "Most people in Bangladesh believe in Islam, and you must not feed them pork or drink alcohol with them, and you will be imprisoned; you must not take off the veils of local women. to marry her..."

Followed by mentors leading students, teaching students in accordance with their aptitude. The project department has a heart-to-heart talk with the new employee alone, and assigns a mentor according to the new employee's major, personality, hobbies, etc. Hu Dinggang studied civil engineering, and the leader placed him as a technician in the engineering department. His master went into battle and taught him how to tie steel bars, set up formwork, control points, and build according to the drawings. After nearly a year of training, Hu Dinggang was able to be on his own. "Working on the site during the day and supplementing the internal business materials at night, I feel very fulfilled and happy. I have learned my skills and increased my knowledge." Hu Dinggang said.

The last is planning goals, personality development. After a period of experience, the new employees have shown their own specialties in their respective positions. At this stage, the project leaders pay more attention to the individual development of young employees, and often plan the future development direction with everyone. After nearly two years of experience, Hu Dinggang and his group of new employees who joined in 2019 have gradually assumed important responsibilities in their respective positions. Becoming the head of the department is the backbone of the construction and production of the project department.

Team work together

"The last steel pile is still 30 centimeters away from the total depth!" "the last 30 centimeters!" "In place! Finished!"

At 6:17 on June 2, 2020, "Hammer Brothers" drove the MHU2400S hydraulic impact hammer tailored by China Railway Bridge Bureau for the Padma Bridge, and independently completed the 7 400KV high-voltage electric tower foundation giant steel piles of the bridge. All the insertion and driving tasks have been completed. So far, all the steel piles of the Padma Bridge in Bangladesh have been inserted and driven.

Due to the particularity of the bridge site, this steel pile insertion operation can be called a world-class problem. And driving this "mecha" to complete the task is a Chinese bridge-building youth with an average age of less than 30 years old. They are the "Hammer Brothers" on the Padma River.

In July 2015, due to the needs of the construction of the Padma Bridge in Bangladesh, the Mechanized Construction Branch of China Railway Bridge Bureau set up an on-site working group engaged in the technical service of MHU2400S hydraulic impact hammer. The group consisted of 7 members with an average age of 24 years. The Hammer brothers speak blunt English, lead a group of Meng workers, hold a set of special tools, and are covered in oil. They are busy on this huge pile driving equipment all day long. melody.

In the face of severe working conditions and severe epidemic, the Hammer brothers independently completed two on-site dismantling and large-scale maintenance of the MHU2400S impact hammer, and completed the insertion and driving of 26 giant steel piles in total. After five years of overseas hard work, with tenacious perseverance, high fighting spirit and excellent skills, they have grown into a super team with "new ideas, excellent technology, bravery and good style".

Different from the intense and fiery work of the "Hammer Brothers", the work of the "Bridge Researcher" team is more tedious and delicate.

This was a silent battle that lasted for six years, but the participants were a team of less than 10 people. They were the Bangladesh Project Team of the Scientific Research Institute of China Railway Bridge Bureau.

In early 2015, with curiosity about the unknown, members of the Bangladesh Project Team of the Academy of Bridge Sciences came to Bangladesh and devoted themselves to the construction of the Padma Bridge. In the face of complex technical problems, the first thing the project team faced was the almost "violent" climatic conditions and the "unfamiliar" overseas work mode.

Once, Li Wei, a member of the project team, was installing a sensor on a pile foundation. The rainstorm came unexpectedly. He resisted the large "rainbomb" that hit him, and the oil stains washed off from the pile hammer from time to time. He insisted on the installation. And after debugging the sensor, collect the ideal test data. When he returned to the working platform, he was soaked all over, and there was still a layer of jet-black sludge on his body, and he was very embarrassed.

The Padma Bridge is a key project in Bangladesh. The requirements of the international supervision team and management team composed of experts from many countries can be described as strict. The project team studied the test data, geological conditions and pile foundation construction technology in depth, adhering to the rigorous and invited Australian experts to verify the work habits, and finally demonstrated the feasibility of the test results of the project team of the Academy of Bridge Sciences.

In June 2020, after five and a half years, the project team successfully completed the pile foundation test and scientific research tasks of the Padma Bridge. The 30 test piles, 298 super-long diameter steel pipe piles and 409 bored cast-in-place piles of the whole bridge are their "Medal of Honor"; 4490 pile foundations and The 7283 segment beams are a footnote to their exploits.

stand alone

In July 2015, 21-year-old Zhou Lin graduated from university and went to the Padma Bridge construction site to become a technician. In May 2021, Zhou Lin was awarded the honorary title of "National Outstanding Communist Youth League Member" by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. In the past 6 years, he has faced the scorching heat of tropical summer, experienced the danger of fighting floods, experienced the joy of overcoming difficulties, and endured the nostalgia that cannot be erased.

When asked why she was willing to work overseas as soon as she graduated, Zhou Lin said: "This is a major overseas project, and I may not encounter a few in my lifetime. It is an honor to be able to participate in such a project. can be improved.”

Although his ambitions are lofty, the harsh environment of the construction site still gave him a blow. Bangladesh is hot and humid and rainy. "In the first few days when I came to the project department, the sun peeled my arms and neck. It was itchy and painful. In addition to the hot and humid temperature, I often couldn't sleep."

In addition to high temperature, heavy rain and floods are also challenges that bridge builders often face.

In September 2015, heavy rains fell in the upper reaches of the Padma River and along the lines, and the water level continued to rise. Several piers and part of the river bank of the project camp were washed away under the raging flood. In the face of danger, Zhou Lin was the first to sign up and devoted herself to the work of flood fighting and emergency rescue without hesitation. After quickly transferring important materials and electrical equipment, Zhou Lin and other team members went to the river bank to fill in sand bags, reinforce steel pipes and bamboo fences, and reinforce the dams as quickly as possible.

In recognition of Zhou Lin's outstanding contribution and brave dedication in flood fighting and rescue, the project department awarded him the honorary title of "Outstanding Individual in Flood Fighting and Rescue".

During the flood fight, Zhou Lin had to soak in sewage; as a technician, Zhou Lin often "soaked" herself in difficult problems.

In order to adapt to the new management system and way of thinking as soon as possible, Zhou Lin actively learned about relevant industry norms, FIDIC terms, laws and regulations, project management and other knowledge, urged workers to continuously improve construction standards and quality, and actively communicated with supervisors to speed up The progress of supervising and approving drawings and plans has greatly improved the construction efficiency. In addition, under the leadership of the team, Zhou Lin also actively summed up experience and innovated and applied many advanced technologies in the Padma Bridge project.

As the Padma Bridge gets longer and longer, Zhou Lin misses her family more and more. Sticking to the overseas construction site, he missed family dinners again and again, and even went home to rest only a handful of times. Whenever she feels homesick, Zhou Lin will find a place where no one is around, and look through the photos of her family members in the album on her phone to ease her depressed mood.

Someone always asks them: "Do you regret this journey?" Their answer is always: "No regret, this is a responsibility and a mission." These "talents" who write about no regrets and bravery in their youth are just thousands The epitome of tens of thousands of bridge people who are struggling overseas. Editor/He Yuting