On June 12, Shuohuang Railway successfully completed the replacement of 24 sets of heavy-haul switches on the main route of Shenchi South Station, a hub site of the railway transportation network, leading to a reduction of more than 40% in the overall maintenance workload and providing high equipment availability for energy supply during the flood season.
Shenchi South Station is connected to four rail lines, namely Baoshen railway, Xinshuo railway, Shuohuang railway and Daqin railway. The average daily coal transportation is more than one million tonnes. The station locates at 1,533 meters above sea level, and the frost-free period is only 90-130 days. Thus, the severe weather leads to severe seasonal problems such as freezing damage and muddying of the line. In addition, since the heavy-haul trains run at high altitudes, the heavy locomotives make the switches deteriorate quickly and need frequent replacement, thus the transportation efficiency is greatly compromised. In order to improve the main routes of train operation, Shuohuang Railway enhanced the stability of the switches and the wear resistance of the frog by using the "Yanxian 1116", a type of heavy-haul switch with higher bearing strength and structural stability.
The replacement of heavy-haul switches will effectively improve the elasticity of the track bed, and enhance the adaptability and stability of the switches for heavy-haul transportation. The straight pointed part, the curved pointed part and the frog are expected to serve until load-bearing reaches 400 million tonnes, 100 million tonnes and 300 million tonnes, so as to greatly reduce the impact of maintenance on the main route of 20,000-tonne and 10,000-tonne heavy-haul trains.
