In the distant Gobi Desert of the UAE, the China Civil Engineering UAE Railway Phase II Track Project Department received the supreme "Certificate of Honor"-the bridge sleeper inspection certificate issued by the Laboratory of the Technical University of Munich, Germany. This complete set of "Made in China"-produced bridge sleeper samples has passed various American standard experiments and has been endorsed by the top international university laboratories. This indicates that the quality of the bridge sleeper prefabrication for the second phase of the UAE Railway Track Project is comprehensive. The second phase of the China Civil Engineering UAE Railway project has used its strength to supervise the owner, to the UAE and the Middle East market, and to prove the "Chinese quality" to the world!

Chinese engineer spirit

There are more than 130 structures in the second phase of the A-Tie Railway project, including large structures such as a 1.2km long bridge. It requires 42,000 bridge ties and a total length of over 25km. Therefore, there is a huge demand for bridge sleepers in the project, and the use of external market ordering schemes will risk delaying the construction period, and project owners and supervisors have extremely high quality requirements. Once the quality of the bridge sleepers is not good enough, it will have a greater impact on the project construction, and it will also affect the construction of the project. The reputation of China Railway Construction and China Civil Engineering in the local market.

Since you can't order from an external market, make it yourself! The track department of the second-phase project of the Arab Railways is determined to produce the bridge sleepers on its own, to achieve the "International Standards" of "Made in China". This has also created a "first" for the second phase of the Arab railway project-the first project in the UAE and even the Middle East to use a full set of Chinese manufacturing equipment to produce bridge sleepers. "First" means that there is no previous experience to learn from. Supervisors with experience in the European and American markets question the technology and quality of the bridge sleepers, requiring that the manufactured bridge sleepers must pass the experiment at the Technical University of Munich before they can be mass-produced and used. The Technical University of Munich is the world's top university with the longest history and most prestige since the European Industrial Revolution. It enjoys a high reputation in the engineering community for its experimental accuracy and rigor. The certificate of conformity tested by the Technical University of Munich will be the supreme "honor" in the construction industry.

At the beginning of the design, the on-site technicians of the track department and the comrades of the project design department formed a "tacky team", determined to do their best to do a vigorous "big cause". Faced with the strict requirements of controlling the appearance of bridge sleeper with the highest accuracy error of ±0.5mm, the attack team carefully understood the experimental standards, carefully studied the design and production plan, and after multiple rounds of discussions and experiments, the bridge sleeper construction plan was finally determined. Subsequently, it was handed over to the domestic equipment supplier to urgently process the template. During the period, many adjustments and revisions were made to achieve perfection. During the production process, they strictly controlled the raw materials, concrete mix ratio and slump, and accurately controlled every detail of tension, demoulding strength, and release speed, and finally ensured that the bridge sleeper would pass in a single pass in mid-August 2021. In the laboratory inspection of the Technical University of Munich, all the samples submitted for inspection were qualified.

From the initial “active fight” for sleeper production, the “approval” for the construction of sleeper factories, to the “high-yield” with a monthly output of over 90,000 pieces, to now the “certificate” of high-quality bridge sleeper production has been obtained, and we are fighting hard in the Arab Railways. Every Chinese civil engineer in the second phase of the project has devoted too much effort and experienced too much hardship. With the perseverance of "returning strength after the hard work" and the determination of "if you don't break Loulan, you won't pay back", they have won too many impressive results! In countless days and nights, they drew countless drawings; after countless measurements, they made countless optimizations; they poured countless drops of sweat to pour the quality of this boutique! They are like warriors on the battlefield. The rumble of the machine beats the "drums of war" for them, and the sweat-drenched overalls have become their "armor" for victory.

Obtaining such a heavy "certificate" proves the engineering strength of China Railway Construction and China Civil Engineering. After the bridge sleeper experiment is successfully passed, the 15,000 bridge sleepers produced in the early stage will be inspected in batches. And this "certificate" also opened the way for the track to overcome technical problems. From the installation of structural ballast mats, bottom ballast paving, to long rail machine paving, mobile welding, to machine maintenance tamping, power stabilization and other key processes, all the key processes have passed the supervision review and have been highly affirmed by the owner. What is more worthy of congratulation is that the passing of the experiment also represents that China Railway Construction has sounded the clarion call to expand the international market on the road of bridge sleeper design and prefabrication! As the bridge sleeper production is the only one that has passed international inspections in the entire UAE, other projects in the UAE and the Middle East have also sent orders for the purchase of bridge sleepers to the track department.

Keywords: Belt and Road news, overseas projects

With this "qualification", the track project department will start mass production of bridge sleepers at full capacity. Today, although the outdoor temperature in the UAE is as high as 50 degrees, and the track department production plant is as stuffy as a steamer, the construction enthusiasm of the engineers has not diminished. In the future, 40,000 bridge sleepers will be produced from the track department, which will become the "cornerstone" of the second phase of the UAE railway project.Editor/Xing Wentao