rning desire for coal
Beijing. Here the line connects with the 67.8km Huangwan Railway which runs from the port to Wanjia Terminal in Tianjin.
However, as Mr Xue Jilian, vice-
president and top senior engineer of Shenhua Group, told IRJ at the International Heavy Haul Conference in Delhi earlier this year, China and Shenhua are hoping to get more from its railway infrastructure.
“As part of China’s 12th five-year plan we were required to increase coal output to 600 million tonnes per year, which is a huge amount,” Xue says. “We therefore have to make sure that coal production and transport can match each other. This is not only a demand from the Chinese economy, but a demand from ourselves, the Shenhua Group.”
Xue says the aim is to increase capacity of the line by 30-40 million
tonnes per year to reach 400-600 million tonnes in the next five to eight years. Work on this project began in 2009 by introducing longer trains and using more C80 25-tonne axleload wagons. In 2010 this was stepped up with a review of the wireless system used for transferring high-bandwidth data for real-time onboard video surveillance, and low-latency data for multi- locomotive synchronisation signalling. This led to the pilot installation of the world’s first railway 4G LTE network.
“We have already done a lot of strategic research with the status quo condition of the railway to identify solutions to upgrade the infrastructure. Our aim is to find out what the optimal solution is.” Xue Jilian
SHR decided to proceed with the LTE system due to the reduced complexity of installing and operating the system compared with GSM-R and other communications technologies. It was also attracted to its capability to deliver broadband-quality data services on a
single platform with LTE considered less prone to radio interference. Huawei has supplied the system which initially covers a 40km section of line. Features include a multi- locomotive synchronous control and command transmission system, functional number check, dispatching communication and on-board video surveillance services. The synchronous locomotive system is enabling SHR to operate longer trains with multiple locomotives distributed along the train, which can be controlled by the lead locomotive, and is similar to technology already used in China on the Daqin heavy-haul line. Xue says the system is increasing the length of trains used and thus increasing capacity, while the video surveillance system is using LTE as a transmission network for maintenance purposes. Successful tests of the LTE network
are likely to result in an extended rollout in the future, and Xue says the project is being closely monitored by the Chinese government.
“The central government is paying a lot of attention to our project,” he says. “We have the full support of the science department which is allowing us to use a service frequency channel for the test and it plans to allocate a special channel for future train operations.”
Capacity goal While this project has helped SHR
increase the frequency of services, the network remains a long way off achieving its overall capacity goal. The railway is now operating almost at capacity, with 115 train pairs per day, including 36 pairs of 10,000-tonne trains. As a result a huge infrastructure improvement project is now underway with the aim of increasing axleloads to reach the target. SHR currently operates wagons with axleloads of 21, 23.2 and 25 tonnes, with the maximum traction mass of 11,600 tonnes using 116 C80 wagons. Xue says the aim is to increase the axleload to 30 tonnes and make greater use of high- capacity C80 wagons supplied by CNR Qiqihar Railway Rolling Stock Company as well as new C100 wagons, which have an axleload of 30 tonnes.
The railway will also procure an additional 81 9.6MW locomotives to add to its existing fleet of 17 high- powered units supplied by CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Company. Xue says that it is inevitable that
increasing axleloads and using longer, heavier trains will place greater stress on the infrastructure. As a result a study commenced in 2011 to identify how SHR might overcome these technical difficulties, with Xue and a team of technical experts from SHR presenting the results during the IHHA conference. “We expected to find that increasing this axleload would result in a few problems on bridges, trackbed in tunnels and on conventional track in terms of the strength, fatigue and stiffness of the steel rails used on the line,” Xue says. “We have already done a lot of strategic research with the status quo condition of the railway to identify solutions to upgrade the infrastructure. Our aim is to find out what the optimal solution is.”
The railway has more than 64km of bridges, 77 tunnels with a total length of 66.4km, and over 450km of track which runs at grade. The paper states that in general the track and components are in good condition when operating at a 25-tonne axleload. However, a detailed analysis identified several existing problems which would be intensified if 30-tonne axleload traffic was allowed to run on the current
infrastructure. Rail: while 75kg rails used on the line are consistent with international heavy- haul standards, reports of excessive rail wear on curves with radius of 500-800m and average rail length life of 40% of the North American equivalent, means that rail life will be severely hampered
if axleloads are increased to 30 tonnes. Sleepers and fasteners: existing sleepers and fasteners are compatible with standards for 30-tonne axleloads. However, in some areas serious defects have been found including cracks at the centre sleeper and railseat, broken fasteners, above average loss of toe pressure, and rubber pad failures. Unofficial data has also identified sleeper lateral displacement of up to 5.1mm and gauge widening of up to 7.7mm in sharp curves.
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