On March 12, 2022, the world's first railway around the desert, the Heruo Railway, successfully passed the dynamic acceptance, marking that the railway is one step closer to the opening and operation of the year. The world's second largest mobile desert is used by Chinese builders. Circle it! This is a miracle infrastructure maniac that can only be created in China!

The Heruo Railway, built by China Railway Group and China Railway Construction Corporation, has a total length of 825.476 kilometers. It is a national key railway project and connects the Hotan area in the southern part of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region with Ruoqiang County, Bayingoleng Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture.

The Heruo Railway has a designed speed of 120 kilometers per hour. Construction was officially started at the end of 2018. The track will be fully laid and completed in September 2021. It is expected to open and operate in June this year. After completion, it will form a railway ring around the Tarim Basin together with the Nanjiang Railway and the Geku Railway. The first railway to surround the desert, what are the difficulties faced in building the railway in the vast desert? What convenience will the Heruo Railway bring to the people of Xinjiang? The Heruo Railway is located in the world's second largest mobile desert known as the "Sea of Death". The highest temperature in the desert on the southern edge of the Taklimakan Desert can reach more than 40 degrees Celsius in summer and as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius in winter.

There is no shelter and no shelter here. In summer, it can only endure exposure to the sun. In winter, in order to prevent the bridge from being damaged, the construction site is not allowed to ignite.

The climate along the Heruo Railway is extremely arid, the sand sources are extremely rich, and the frequency of wind blows is high.

The distribution length is 538.116 kilometers, and the length of the section affected by wind and sand is 412.538 kilometers, accounting for about half of the line length. The main wind season is 7 months through the length of the wind and sand area, which brings a lot to the construction and operation of the railway. In order to meet the challenge, we need to build roads and control sand first. How to build a green corridor for windbreak and sand fixation? The Heruo Railway built along the southern edge of the desert is a railway with a high "sand content". The construction of the railway in the hinterland of the desert has made the construction of the railway more difficult. The maintenance cost will even affect the safety of train operation. Sand prevention and control have become the key to the construction of the Heruo railway. For the first time in China, the wind and sand protection and engineering construction are carried out simultaneously to effectively deal with wind and sand erosion. Heruo railway builders insist on The concept of "building railways in deserts, sand control must be the first", through the combination of plant sand control and engineering sand control measures to achieve wind and sand protection projects, and the construction of the railway is carried out simultaneously. The sand control mode of "external resistance and internal fixation, high outside and low inside" was adopted, and a 1.5-meter-high vertical sand-blocking barrier was initially set up on the outside, and reed squares were set on the side near the railway for sand-fixing.

Between the sand barrier and the grass square, crops such as Haloxylon ammonium, red willow, Populus euphratica, etc., which are easy to grow in the desert, are planted. After that, the plants will play the role of sand control.

Tall trees are used on the outside to reduce wind speed, intercept incoming sand, and shrubs are used to fix sand near the railway side. Plants use their own luxuriant foliage and developed root system to fix quicksand. The advanced sand control system of ladder type can intercept sandstorm layer by layer.

Replacing roads with bridges: Respecting nature and combining dredging and prevention, the design plan of "replacing roads with bridges" is adopted in the areas with particularly severe sandstorms and Ruo Railway to build "bridges across the sand".

The construction team used the prefabricated concrete structure application technology to change the previous practice of pouring bridge piers on site, and solved the construction problems such as sandstorms, harsh natural environment, water difficulties and concrete maintenance difficulties in desert railway construction, simplifying the process and improving work efficiency.

A total of 5 "cross-sand bridges" with a length of more than 40 kilometers have been constructed on the whole line. These overhead bridges can allow wind and sand to pass under the bridges, reducing the impact of wind and sand on the line and train operation. If the railway travels through the desert, overlooking from the air, the windbreak and sand-fixing belt that stretches for more than 300 kilometers is full of greenery and vitality.

In order to allow the shelterbelt to flourish as soon as possible, the Heruo Railway has applied the intelligent agricultural irrigation system that has been popular in China in recent years. This system has a total of 131 wells with a maximum depth of 280 meters and a coverage area of 280 meters. Up to 113,510 mu

The desert is remote and remote. By using the artificial intelligence automatic control system, the on-duty personnel can realize remote and timely control operations.

After all these efforts, what finally appeared in front of us was the nearly 300-kilometer "green corridor", consisting of reed sand barriers, reed squares, trees and shrub strips set up in turn from outside to inside on both sides of the railway. The Great Green Wall".

At present, the green corridors along the railway have become natural barriers to prevent wind and sand. The builders of central enterprises have built nearly 50 million square meters of grass grids along the railway, and planted nearly 13 million shrubs and trees such as Haloxylon, red willow, and sea buckthorn. strains.

What convenience does the "green corridor" in the "Sea of Death" bring to the people of Xinjiang?During the construction of the Heruo Railway, China Railway, China Railway Construction and other participating units actively assumed the responsibilities of central enterprises. By providing jobs and giving priority to purchasing local materials to assist in building infrastructure and other assistance measures, the economic development of the areas along the line has won the local government and the local government. The unanimous praise of the masses.

After the opening of the Heruo Railway, the history of the five counties of Luopu, Celle, Yutian, Minfeng, and Qiemo being closed to trains will end, and the distance from Hotan to Xinjiang will be shortened by more than 1,000 kilometers. The local people will travel from Qiemo County to the capital of Bazhou. The time in Korla has been shortened from 12 hours to 6 hours. Local agricultural and sideline products such as red dates will also be continuously transported by railway, and the transportation cost will be reduced by half, which is of great significance for promoting regional economic development and further promoting rural revitalization. Bridges rise from the ground and roads are paved to the sky. By the end of 2021, the operating mileage of my country's railways has exceeded 150,000 kilometers. The builders of central enterprises have created miracles one after another with their wisdom and sweat. The railway will be opened as soon as possible, paying tribute to the builders who are fighting at the grassroots front line! Editor / Zhao E