#The Challenge of Creating Flowers with Wonderful Writing#Before reading this article, please click on theFollowIt not only facilitates your discussion and sharing, but also brings you a different sense of participation. Thank you for your support!The American traveler once wrote in his travels: "As long as there are Kunlun Mountains, the railway will never reach LhasaLater on, the Qinghai Tibet Railway in China was opened, and the train crossed the Kunlun Mountains and shuttled through the snow peaks in Lhasa

#The Challenge of Creating Flowers with Wonderful Writing#

Before reading this article, please click on theFollowIt not only facilitates your discussion and sharing, but also brings you a different sense of participation. Thank you for your support!

The American traveler once wrote in his travels: "As long as there are Kunlun Mountains, the railway will never reach Lhasa

Later on, the Qinghai Tibet Railway in China was opened, and the train crossed the Kunlun Mountains and shuttled through the snow peaks in Lhasa.

The Qinghai Tibet Railway is a "miracle" in the history of engineering in China and even the world. The overall project is divided into two phases: the first phase is from Xining to Golmud, and the second phase is from Golmud to Xining. However, when the train arrives in Golmud, it needs to replace the American internal combustion engine locomotive before heading to Lhasa.

But China is a major infrastructure country, why not choose electric locomotives with better cold resistance, and why should we replace American locomotives?

Why change to an American locomotive

Throughout thousands of years of history, the Qinghai Tibet Plateau has always been synonymous with "danger".

During the Tang Dynasty, Princess Wencheng entered Tibet for a marriage, but when she arrived in Lhasa, only half of the troops were left, and the accompanying livestock were killed and injured countless times.

But even if it is as difficult to enter Xizang as climbing a ladder, we have never thought about losing Xizang, for which we built the Qinghai Tibet Highway.

Driven by economic development, the transportation capacity of highways is no longer sufficient to meet the demand. Qinghai Tibet and other provinces need a railway that can run from early to dark all year round. Therefore, China spent half a century building the Qinghai Tibet Railway.

However, while constructing the railway, China also needs to tailor a train specifically for the Qinghai Tibet Railway, taking into account the unique and harsh environment along the railway.

Nowadays, China's train routes have basically been electrified, and electric motor driven internal combustion engines are also used on the Xining Golmud section. The terrain here is relatively stable, and electric driven internal combustion engines can be used, which is environmentally friendly and can meet transportation capacity needs.

However, since electric powered internal combustion engines are so good, why do we choose American diesel internal combustion engines when we reach the section from Golmud to Lhasa? Can't China build its own internal combustion engine?

Some people say that this is because the internal combustion engine in the United States is relatively good, and it is indeed like this.

At that time, China chose to purchase the "NJ2" locomotive specially designed by General Motors of the United States, which uses diesel turbocharging technology.

Simply put, the driving principle of this locomotive is to convert electricity by burning diesel. It is equipped with a 7FDL diesel engine with a rated power of 3234kW and an installed power of 3000kW.

During operation, the power of the diesel engine can be adjusted according to changes in altitude, and from these aspects, the advantages of this locomotive are quite obvious.

In fact, the reason why the US internal combustion engine was chosen for the Gela section was indeed because the US internal combustion engine was better. At that time, China was unable to immediately produce an internal combustion engine suitable for this section, which was mainly related to some world-class problems faced by the Qinghai Tibet Railway.

Two Difficulties in Building the Qinghai Tibet Railway

Firstly,The permafrost area that the Qinghai Tibet Railway passes through is 545 kilometers longIt is currently the longest railway in the world that passes through permafrost regions.

Frozen soil actually refers to soil that contains moisture. Once the temperature reaches or falls below zero degrees Celsius, frozen soil will form ice and become hard soil blocks, otherwise it will melt.

The Qinghai Tibet Railway is equivalent to reaching the highest point in the world, spanning over 5000 meters of high mountains in the middle, as well as a large number of rivers, canyons, and so on. At this time, coupled with permafrost, it is equivalent to an indefinite bomb in a place.

When the temperature rises in summer, some non permanent permafrost melts, appearing like a quagmire that can sink at any time.

Because the transformation of water into ice leads to a reduction in volume, which in turn causes the ground to sink, while in winter, the opposite is true.

The frost heave of frozen soil will directly threaten the safety of railway tracks and trains. Later, the staff first went to the Qinghai Tibet Plateau to build a frozen soil observation station, so as to find out the frozen soil conditions along the line, and then laid turf, foam plastics and other materials in the base to "insulate" the frozen soil, thus reducing the impact of frozen soil on the railway tracks.

After minimizing the impact of frozen soil on railway tracks, it is also necessary to consider the impact of changes in frozen soil and temperature on trains. These changes will directly affect the power of the locomotive, and the "NJ2" type locomotive can adjust the power based on these changes.

Secondly, the average elevation of the Golmud to Lhasa section of the Qinghai Tibet Railway is as high as 4438.41 kilometers, with over 80% of the lines having an elevation of over 4000 meters.

In this section of the railway, the Qinghai Tibet Railway needs to pass through complex terrain such as high mountains and canyons, and the ups and downs of the terrain require sufficient traction from the locomotive. However, China's internal combustion engine is mainly suitable for plains and hilly areas, and the traction is not sufficient to meet the needs of trains traveling at high speeds.

In fact, places with an altitude of over 4 kilometers are directly linked to "death". The oxygen content here is extremely low, and many people may experience nausea, high blood pressure, and high altitude reactions due to hypoxia.

Due to the cold climate in the higher areas of Shanghai, the actual construction time is only seven or eight months per year.

If electrification is chosen, workers need to first lay cables at an altitude of over 4000 meters, which is equivalent to laying wires and building power plants on the plateau. It can be imagined how difficult the entire process will be.

What is even more challenging is that the special climate, geology, and terrain have led to frequent natural disasters in the Gra section, which may at any time cause power supply line interruptions and even lead to safety accidents.

The internal combustion engine of a diesel engine does not require external power supply, and acceleration, track change, and other functions only rely on internal devices. As long as the railway tracks are normal, it can travel, which is more stable.

In addition, compared to traditional lines, electrified lines have higher maintenance requirements.

Taking high-speed rail as an example, the maintenance cost of a high-speed rail in China now ranges from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of yuan, and this number will continue to soar on the plateau.

Even if you are truly wealthy and don't worry about money, whether someone goes to maintain it every day is a big problem.

But the question arises, why only choose a diesel engine for the Gra section? This is related to a major drawback of diesel engines.

Limitations of diesel engines

Diesel engines can produce many pollutants such as carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide during operation, but the ecological environment of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau is quite fragile. Once damaged, it is likely that it will not be able to recover for several years or even decades. Therefore, it is necessary to minimize the use of internal combustion engines as much as possible.

To put it more bluntly, it is necessary to choose an internal combustion engine for the Gela section. Since it has been decided to use an internal combustion engine, why does China not build it itself?

In fact, China did not completely lack internal combustion engines, but at that time, China's focus was on researching high-speed railways, making it difficult to invest a large amount of money in the research and development of internal combustion engines.

In addition, the construction of the Qinghai Tibet Railway was already imminent, and in the end, China chose the simplest and most crude method, which was to purchase locomotives from the United States and directly create a "hybrid train".

It was in such a harsh environment that the Chinese people spent nearly half a century finally completing the construction of the Qinghai Tibet Railway, which once again staged a great work that changed the fate of the world.

However, with the advancement of technology, is it possible to replace the Golmud section with electrical lines in the future, and even allow high-speed trains to run on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau?

As early as July 1, 2023, the "Fuxing" high-speed train smoothly entered the Xige section, indicating that the Qinghai Tibet Railway has officially entered the "high-speed train era".

The high-speed train entering the Qinghai Tibet Railway this time is the new CR200J Fuxing high-speed train set, with a speed of up to 160 kilometers per hour. This high-speed train is designed specifically for the environment of plateau areas and can be driven at altitudes of 3500.

In China, where railway technology is rapidly developing, it is no longer a problem for high-speed trains to enter the Qinghai Tibet Railway. In the future, high-speed trains to enter the higher altitude section of the Gola section are just around the corner!

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