The world's first high-speed railway in cold weather has been in operation for 10 years. Let's explore the difficulties of construction on frozen soil

Science Fiction Network, December 2, Xinhua News Agency reported that the world's first high-speed railway in cold weather, the Harbin-Dalian high-speed railway, opened for operation for 10 years on December 1. Over the past 10 years, the Harbin-Dalian high-speed railway has successfully coped with nearly 600 snowstorms, operated 739,000 trains, safely transported 670 million passengers, and operated 671.17 million kilometers.

The general characteristics of high-altitude and cold regions are high altitude, perennial low temperature, and permafrost that does not melt all year round; high latitude, perennial low temperature, and permafrost that does not melt all year round. The northern part of Heilongjiang Province, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Gansu, and parts of Inner Mongolia belong to the high-altitude and cold regions in my country. The main difficulty in building high-speed railways in high-altitude and cold regions is that the Shenyang-Heilongjiang section is located in the deep seasonal permafrost zone with the highest latitude along the entire line.

When frozen, the permafrost is like ice. As the temperature drops, its volume expands, and the roadbed and rails built on it are lifted up. In summer, the permafrost melts, shrinks in volume, and the rails drop down. The repeated freezing and melting of the permafrost will cause serious deformation of the roadbed, uneven rails, and even twisted into a knot, affecting normal traffic.

The Harbin-Dalian high-speed railway runs through the three provinces of Northeast China, with a total length of 903.9 kilometers and an operating mileage of 921 kilometers. It starts from Harbin, Heilongjiang Province in the north and ends in the coastal city of Dalian in the south. The construction personnel overcame many design difficulties to ensure that the Harbin-Dalian high-speed railway was opened and operated as planned.

Today, the Harbin-Dalian high-speed railway has been in operation for 10 years. It has made people's travel more convenient, contributed to the revitalization and development of the local area, and made people live happier. (Editor: Qin Yingying)