On June 16, 2022, after three and a half years of hard work, the Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway, which was constructed with the participation of central enterprises such as China Railway and China Railway Construction, was officially opened for operation.

The Heruo Railway runs from west to east in the Gobi Desert. The wind season lasts for 7 months. Not only are the natural conditions extremely harsh, but there are also problems such as the shortage of construction materials and construction water, and the frequent sandstorms with visibility less than 10 meters. It is an exaggeration to say that the construction process of the entire Xinjiang Heruo Railway is a process of fighting against quicksand, sandstorms, high temperature and severe cold.

The Heruo railway builders who work in the field sit on the ground and eat lunch

In areas with particularly severe sandstorms, Heruo Railway adopts a design plan of replacing roads with bridges, and builds a sand-crossing bridge, so that sandstorms can pass under the bridge, reducing the impact on the line and train operation. The builders adopted the application technology of prefabricated concrete structure and used building blocks to change the previous practice of pouring bridge piers on site, and solved the construction problems such as the impact of wind and sand in desert railway construction, harsh natural environment, water difficulties and concrete maintenance difficulties.

Sand control grass grid project

For the first time in the national railway construction, the builders of the Heruo Railway put forward the construction concept of sand control first. Through the combination of plant sand control and engineering sand control measures, the sandstorm protection project and the railway construction can be carried out simultaneously.Editor/Ma Xue