Railway Tunnel Drilled Through Frozen Soil on Plateau

Chinese engineers and workers have worked out a way to drill through a mountain that is situated 4,905 meters above sea level.

What the engineers and workers face while constructing the Qinghai-Tibet railway line is the frozen soil resulted from high altitude.

Drilling through the frozen soil is prone to causing collapses after the heat generated from drilling friction triggers off cave-ins inside the construction site.

The engineers and workers have drilled 150 meters into the mountain as a tried-and-true experiment by testing various skills and combinations of skills.

Now with their solution up their sleeves, the engineers and workers can proceed at high gear to drill the 1,329-meter tunnel that is the key connection of the railway line on the plateau in northern Tibet and southern Qinghai.

Nov 24
Xinhuanet