CONSTRUCTION OF RIVER BRIDGES IN CHINA AND DEVELOPMENTS ON PAO-CH'ENG RR LINE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700180450-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 6, 2011
• Sequence Number: 450
• Publication Date: June 8, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700180450-1
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700180450-1
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CONSTRUCTION OF RIVER DRIDOES Ill CHIiiA
IIiH) DEVELOPMENTS Or! PAO-CFi'EPiG RR LINE
CONSTRUCTION STARTID ON YAIIGTZE RIVER BRIDGE AT HAIH{OW -- Tientsin, T_r Kung Pac:,
?3 Dec 53
Wuhsn, ~2 Decetaber (Hsin-haw Sze) -- On 2^ Ncver..Fer 1%53, nfser s long period
of study end preparatory planning, work +ss starte.l en the ccnstn:ctisn of a
bridge to span t're Ha;: Chiang between ifaa-y.:ng and Ilankow. 'Phis project includes
"~e ~c.nstructien of the bridge itself and the rail ccnrectiens between it. and
(1) '.he trucks c. -he Peiping-icrnkew raiL::ay line c,t the iiankcw station, and
(~) '~he FIan-yangnnil.ay station which is tc be buiL' un t}:e bank of the Yangtze
River, at the foot cf Kuei Shan, [;,'tere the north end c.f the great Yangtze River
bridge '_s to be located 1, Thus, after the cc~plet;ion of construction of tF.e liar.
River Fridge and of ::I:e yang*_ze River tridr'.e, plsn^, for w}lich are now Fein
energet.ic:clly preparei, She cenaecti.,n of the Feiplr:g-Hankow lad Canton-?[snkcw
railway 1ir;es t:iii l:c e,^:ect.e:i; ;r^,d ?he t!:ree sections o: Wu!;an, :ritr:ely, a:nko?+,
flan-yang, and ;!u-ch'.rag, will have direct ecnrrect.icrs i;y bridge,
Acc-.^din? ;. :ur;:?nt n'ens, t?:e Ra:: C'..i:nf; i:?idce i:; tc b^_ completed be`cre
the formal st?srtJ^t: cr;:,: :uctir,n w rk o:: the atria Lridge r~ress the Yan-*z
facilita`inc the t:..r,_._.,. .._ t, e, thus
.: aeavy equipment and gre~rt quantities cf materials
to the site of the r.~.:?t.ir ^nd of the main bridge. ^the work oa the smaller Hun
Chiang bridge will afford ?:sluable experience .rrd training for n large number of
skilled workers for the tamer project. which is ?a f:.;llow? Heretofore, the only
^:eans n^ t.^rvel between Ilanku:+ and Has-y::;g !; ;s :-een by beat, whose operations
were "requent.ly rote..*rup+_ed by storms :std }:ig:: u:rter? Hsn-yang which has been
un old baekuard city will soon Feccme a busy ::nd prosperous city.
The current of the iian Chi?rric, nt Hsn-yrnr? is ,wilt an-.i deep; the period of
l.ow water is short; .rod the river bottom i ~,f' ;!;iftin;- s::nl? Cc-n::equ
bellow en'Ly,
rein,,^orr.ed .uncret+?s piles, from ~4 tc ;2 meters :.i:::S, wi1= be rcuuLed
for the pier fcundario::s, u;d trot.. t,el;ir.:;ln,: end : '.ill be
.,._chat:ic:1 methods ar:d equ:pr..cr.?, rs far as it le? ..~_..,sary to u;e
pr,..,
At nrr_sent, ?, wn.?kinE fc. ce cf sever ~:', bun ~r??c eo' `
.he fi+rnk+r? work si'.e .... ?.ecu ,ssembled at
n3 ':hr~y rr" rrr rir the i 'ound.rti.,r.:;. T;u?
:'i11 cr:?th whirh !s nor c: _ ei::? +. .+
: ,, .. e P .:;-::;nk.,w rail ~.ry
r:: cpecial t.r.rlns at ht. ~; ~ ;c 1 c:: ( :: c e-~d.ry [1 f.rug is 10^
cuF,icfEetJ from a b r. ~...r:F p ,about ~~ 'r:iL.,.,c..er: awry, 'f.:ll .:nd po?,rer:1:1
pile d:.vers equipped :?1U: :..:?'..'r lets uro :are`ady in ope??ltion. 'vlit.hir. he h.,;t
.ew d.rya a r:wnber of cut.:;',rcur. :'L ,ti:,i; cr.uics +;rd ';u?gc bulbs have been br? u~';t
to Hankow from Sh:urghai :rod eise?.?he:?e. Sccu s..,,e 50_~:ete:? long; derrick booms
wilt be erected cn L':e river tank tc h:u:dle heavy eouipment. Nigh-voltage electric
wires snd flood lights ire bei ;~, installed. lIi!rh-^ress:r:e wrtet? pumps, aut~;n::tic
cement. mixers and ut.her I;.icces c.f mech.,:acal ~q;ri;~::rent. ~:re i:eiu~; :resembleG.
Shortly, the bridge enginee:?intc team which h?rs built the Hsin::g Chiang Fridge,
censistinr of seine profess,rs .nd students of the Southwest. Civil EngineerinG
Cvl.iege, will arrive u: the scene to take psrt in the under-water engineering
cnsttvction. It is pla:urua tc finish the under-:ra?ter work be:'ore the high xa'.cr
'~:' the stwner of ly5';.
?on~ Kong, Ta Kung Pao, 2i. FeF 1954
Peiping, 20 February -- The concrete workshop of the Feng-t'a1 BridGe Works
has completed one day ahead of the target dn.*,e the manufucturc of the }:ollow
reit5ferced concrete piles ..^ur the foundations of the bridge across the Hun Chiang
tit Il:nkcw. February is the month of low war.ar ;r. lire Yarstz^ River, hence t.hc
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piles for the Han Chiang bridge must be driven during this month and the piers
built upon these foundations, in order tc comply with the timetable for con-
struction of this bridge. Realizing the significance of these piles, all the
workmen in the shop devoted themselves uitir great energy to this fob and sur-
passed all previous production quotas.
Hong Kong, Ta Kung Pao, 25 Feb 54
Wuhan, 21 February (Hsin-bus She) -- Work has c:;mmenced en the tec'.m1cs1
designs for the great Yangtze River Aridge at &ankca? This includes designs
for the foundations, piers, and steel superstructure cf the main bride, t}:e
approaches ut either end, and the track connections wit.: the Peiping-Haakctr and
Canton-finnkou railway lines. 'Phe designs for the bridge superstructure :+111
he prac~ically finished this year (lyj4); and the designs for ti:e other Darts
will be completed in time for the commencement cf actual construction in i~j5.
For the prosecution of this ir.:mense and difficult. undertalan;;, the I?tinistry
of Rail?.rays has established in Wuhan nn engineering office which wi'_1 be in
charge solely of the operaticn:rl planning, design, and direction cf construction
of the oro~ect. Score 37 of the ablest men skilled in bridge desio: and experienced
in construction have been assigned to this office. Amon3; them :Lre men ?.f he worked
on the Chien-t-ang Chiang i,r_3Qe near iisngchow, :nd .?n the repair ~ t}:e YeI1c?.r
River bridge rear Cheng-thou. This office will also have the widance and defi-
nite assiatanee of n number cf bridge experts from the Soviet. Union.
WORK BEGUN ON TWO CHIA-LING CHIANG ARIDGES -- Fiong Kcn Tu Kung Pac, ?` Feb til+
Ch'eng-tu, 25 February (Chung-kuc Hsin-wer.) -- Excavation has 1:e~:n un the
foundations for Bridge No 1 and Aridge Ilu ~ over the Chia-ling ChianE near
Kuang-yuan, Szechwan. These are the lint and t.hc largest nro,Jects un the southern
section of the Pao-chi--Ch'eng-tu :?sil.;y line. A ccrspM.ent work tree: is .. -
sembled by drawing some of the test cadres :urd ;:killed workers from uncrrg the
men who have teen working on ?:'her bridge pro~ec's on this line. Moreover, acme
of the beat of these men have been sent to iiankra tr, lenr^ :+s much as pcalble
regnrrling techniques from ti:e :?~ir'r. :: ,, in nr_:;?eas v:. ?}:e, Hr:: Chiang tri3;;e
DEVELOPMENT ON PAO-CH'EIJG R1II::l,i't -- Peipin~_?, Jen-:ain Jih-n:ro, 14 J:rn 5':
Stepped up preperrations fu;? t.'r.e c'tr'.y ieginninq cf construction ~:., the
northern section of the Pao-Ch'en~ rail?ay include the i'~1L.:wing item::
Plans have been completed covering the scope ~f work far the first quarter
of '~5'+, the organization of the wo.^kin}; farce, -.rnd the tr:rnsportution of supni r-r.
auu materials. The collectin:: ~,[? brrl'..at reek is rlrendy going cn. Telephone
wires and inst:?umen's ire being installed to connect Pao-chi with ucrk sites Sn
the Chin-ling Shin section. Excavating equiprtra ?,. ..rious types and in large
suantities, including crawler-:counted cranes, from different prrts of the ecuntry
are being :resembled at. pnu-chi ^r at vcr:t sites 1:: ti:~ mcuntrins? bL+terials
for the building of barracks have been delivered t.o a convenient ooint near the
location of the tunnel. This section o1' the line will include such difficult.
prn~ects ns the 2,300-meter-long tunnel under the summit c" the puss through
the Chin-ling Shan, and the ;%0-meter-long bridge across rice Wei Ho near Puo-chi.
More than 20 skilled surveyors and engineers experienced in field cork have
been added to the planning staff of the line tc expedite the early completion of
operational plans and budgets so that active construction uiay be started accord-
in3 to schedule.
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HSIAHG CHIANG RR BRIDGE IS CoIH'LE1'ED -- Peiping, Jen-min Jih-pao, 14 Jan 54
It is reported that on 7 January 1954 the steel railway bridge across the
Hsiang Chiang at Hsiang-t'an, Hunan, was finished. The bridge is 780 meters
long. The trusses, requiring over 3,000 tone of structural steel, were supplied
by the Shan-hai-kuan Railway Bridge Works.
With the building of this bridge, trains from Chu-thou, on the Canton-Hankow
railway line, will be able to cross the Hsiang Chiang by a branch line directly
to the rapidly growing industrial city of Hsiang=t'an, and thus link the Canton-
Hankow railway with the projected Hunan-Kweichow railway line.
SHA-CH'ENG--FBNG-T'AI TUNNELS -- Peiping, Jen-min Jih-pao, 1 Jan 54
An army railway corps officer in a latter of New Year's greeting to Chair-
man Mao Tse-tung, stated that Tunnel No 9 on the Sha-ch'eng--Feng-t'ai railway
is now passable for locomotives and work trains. The letter also stated that
Tunnel No 1~ on the same line, 'when finished, will be over 2,400 meters long.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700180450-1