Qinghai-Tibet Railway, China and the Solutions to Its Major Geotechnical Problems for Construction

• Main Authors: Wang, Lanmin, Wu, Zhijian, Sun, Junjie, Zhang, Luxin
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Scholars' Mine 2008
• Subjects: Geotechnical Engineering; permafrost
• Online Access: https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/6icchge/session13/9; https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2970&context=icchge

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway (QTR) is the highest-elevation one for passenger trains in the world and the first railway to connect central China to Tibet. Construction of this railway starting in 2001 had to contend with major geotechnical challenges, such as permafrost, environmental protection and seismic hazards. Its completion in 2006 is a remarkable feat in the world’s railway construction history and crystallization of wisdom of human beings. In this paper, the planning and preparing history and the construction project of QTR are introduced. The major three thorny problems, permafrost, lack of oxygen and environmental frangibility for the construction and their solutions are presented, which are active methods of riprap roadbeds, heat pipe roadbed and bridges over land for permafrost, health care system for lack of oxygen and environmental protection measures for construction and operation. Seismic safety assessment was carried out for earthquake damage mitigation of the railway. The laboratory test, field test and observation, and it’s operation have shown that design, construction, and measures for earthquake hazards mitigation and environmental protection of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway are completely successful.