Xinhua news agency, Jakarta, January 31 - News Agency: the new year is in full swing. Tunnel 2 of Yawan high speed railway will not be shut down during the festival
Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang ona Yu Qianliang
On the eve of the Lunar New Year of the tiger, the construction site of Yawan high-speed railway tunnel 2 is in full swing in puwagada County, West Java province, Indonesia. Despite the ventilation equipment constantly delivering fresh air into the tunnel, the temperature at the face where the workers are excavating is as high as nearly 50 degrees Celsius.
"Tunnel 2 has entered the construction sprint stage. At present, the four construction faces are on three shifts 24 hours a day. The same is true during the Spring Festival. We will spare no effort to ensure that the goal of connection is achieved by the end of April." Ma Jinchi, deputy general manager and chief engineer of Yawan high speed railway Power Construction Corporation Of China Ltd(Powerchina Ltd)(601669) project department, said.
Tunnel 2 is the most difficult tunnel for the construction of Yawan high-speed railway. It not only has a special geographical location - close to the existing railway, passing through mosques and residential areas, but also has special geological conditions - the scope of the tunnel body is mainly the expansive mudstone that will crack and collapse rapidly after contacting the air. In addition, Indonesia is in the rainy season, and the mudstone weakens faster when encountering water. Therefore, it is very easy to cause collapse during excavation, increasing the construction safety risk.
Zhou Chaode, project branch manager of Power Construction Corporation Of China Ltd(Powerchina Ltd)(601669) Hydropower Bureau 7, who is responsible for the construction of tunnel 2, told reporters: "According to the construction scheme formulated by the Chinese expert seminar, we have adopted the method of surface grouting and steel pipe pile to strengthen the stratum and ensure safety, as well as special construction methods such as double-sided wall construction in the tunnel, so as to avoid the occurrence of abnormal conditions such as large support deformation, collapse and mud gushing when excavating the tunnel. At present, all working faces are progressing smoothly."
Yawan high speed railway tunnel 2, constructed in March 2019, has a total length of 1052m and is a single tunnel and double track tunnel. Indonesian President Joko visited the construction site of tunnel 2 on the 17th of this month. According to the current construction progress, zoko hopes that Yawan high-speed railway will be officially put into operation in June 2023.
Although the construction progress can not be delayed for a moment, it coincides with the lunar new year. In order to comfort the homesickness of the front-line staff of the project, the project Department of tunnel 2 recently organized a friendly basketball and badminton match for the Spring Festival, and will also arrange fellowship activities such as dumplings and Chorus on the eve of the lunar new year.
"When the employees rest, the project department is home. Although they are far away in a foreign country, the atmosphere of the new year cannot be light." Zhou Chaode said that for the sake of epidemic prevention, 434 Chinese employees and 1196 Indonesian employees currently live in the camp of the project Department of tunnel 2.
Hendry Fernanda, an Indonesian local safety officer in charge of the safety work at the construction site, is about to usher in his first spring festival in tunnel 2.
"Although we come from different countries and have different cultures, we feel very happy to spend the Spring Festival together like our families." "I can feel the sense of responsibility of Chinese colleagues. In order to ensure the progress of the project, they can't go back to China to accompany their families," Fernanda said.
As of January 26, 756.2 meters of Yawan high-speed railway tunnel 2 had been excavated, with 71.9% of the quantities completed.
"The construction of tunnel 2 is a process of continuous exploration and progress." Ma Jinchi said, "when we encountered problems in the early stage, we were very anxious. Now we have found effective solutions, high morale and new progress every day.".
