RECONSTRUCTION OF THE TSINAN-TSINGTAO RAILWAY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A004100570003-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 22, 2002
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: May 11, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2002/07/24: CIA-RDP80-0081OA004100570003-1
.CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
cownaTIAL
COUNTRY China
SUBJECT Reconstruction of the Tsinan-Tsingtao
Railway
25X1'A
DATE OF INFO.
PLACE ACQUIRED
This Document contains informa"on affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United 8$tee,within the mean-
ing of Title 18, Sections 703 and 701, of the U.B. Code, as
amended. Its transmission or revelation of its contents
to or receipt by an unauthorized person is prohibited
by law. The reproduction of this form is prohibited.
REPORT NO. 25X1A
DATE DISTR. 11-May 194
NO. OF PAGES 1+
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
_,rr
REFERENCES
THE SOURCE EVALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE.
THE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
(FOR KEY SEE REVERSE) 25X1 X
SOURCE:
In May and June.i949, to aid in the taking of the city ofTsingtaoy the
Chinese Communists reconstructed the Tsinan - Tsingtao Rail-way. Communist
guerrillas bad removed one-half of the width of the roadbed a$ that half
had to be re-.aced with a great quantity of crushed stone to ibake it as
,solid as the old half. Rail-laying took about one month to complete. At
the time of "liberation" of Tsingtao, the work.reached from Tsinan as far
as the Wei.R4.ver bridge (approximately N 36-35; E 119-20). After the Com
m3nists came int9'full power, the work extended from, both ends of line . but
it progressed more rapidly from the western end because railway workers
hvl already been mobilised in this area. In Taingtao even railway office
workers were put to work on the reconstruction of the road. Rails, which
had. been hidden in the surrounding hills by the Chinese Communist guerriXlas,
Were taken out of hiding and used on the railway. Sleepers: of unprocessed
wood, were collected.throughhout Shantung. ?Atee1 work and cement were
brought from Tsinan qn the railway as the road was repaired. The line was
opened. on 3 July 1949'. All reconditioning, including the bridges, had been
completed before this date and had taken only two months. The reconstruc
tion was roughly done because the prime purpose was just to get the rail:-
day running,. A train could pass over the roadbed at about ]0.kilometers
. per hour. After 3 July the Chinese Communists continued to improve the
railway until it met Soviet standards in 1952.
The laying of the roadbed was assigned to civilians living in the surround-
ing villages, who were organized into teams headed by the leader of the
construction section of the respective hsien. Skilled workers, who had
previously reconstructed the Tientsin-Pukow line and who were headed by a
commander appointed by the railway administration, came from Tientsin to
lay the rails. At first the construction teams were short of supplies;
therefore, instead of four, which is standard, only two "fish" bolts were
used at joints in bridges. It took three months to get more materials.
.After the improvements made during these three months, the trains could
CONFtDI'IAL 25X1 A
Approved For Release 2002/07/24: CIA-RDP80-0081OA004100570003-1
 Approved For Release 2002/07/24: CIA-RDP80-0081OA004100570003-1
CONFIDENTIAL
- 2 -
travel at 30 kilometers per hour. In 1952 testing trains were brought from
the Soviet Union to test the bridges. The Soviets found only one span on
the Wei River bridge not up to standard. When this span had been reinforced,
the speed of trains was upped to 50 kilometers per hour without any other
improvements on the line.
3. Four majpr bridges on the Tsinan-Tsingtao line had to be reconstructed.
They were over the Wen River (approximately N 36-36, E 119-18), the Wei
River (approximately N 36-35, E 119-20), the Chiao River (approximately
N 36-22, E 119-48), and the Taku River (approximately N 36-22, E 120-07),.
One repair team was assigned to each bridge, and each team was also respon-
sible for the small bridges on either side of the larger bridges. The
reconditioning of the three western bridges began before the fall of
Tsingtao in June 1949, but the fourth bridge team was not organized until
after the city had been captured,
4. The first step in restoring the bridges was to strengthen the buttresses
With reinforced concrete. The surfaces of the bridges had steel plates,
which were damaged by bombing. The damaged pieces were cut apart to use
those sections that were undamaged. Later these repaired pieces were
replaced by standard steel plates. The construction crews were able to
salvage about 50 percent of the materials on each bridge and the remainder
of the material was taken from the United States' stockpile at Hsuchow.
5. On June"1949, the railway administration officials had a conference in
Tsingtao and decided that traffic should be able to pass over the line
by 1 July. To accomplish this, a temporary bridge was to be put up over
the Wei River because of the difficulties involved in repairing the per-
manent bridge. It took three days to survey the area for the temporary
bridge and six days to construct the bridge, which was made from lumber
taken from the old bridge and was two kilometers long. Five hundred
civilian laborers from each of the three surrounding hsien, headed by the
construction chief of the hsien government, were mobilized. A team was
assigned to each section of the bridge; some teams finished in less than
the six alloted days, but all the workers were paid for the full six days.
Each laborer was given a chit showing that he had completed his work. He
took the chit to his hsien and collected grain as payments.
6. At the head of each of the four bridge-repairing teams was a technical
man, who was a Co;z=ist but not an engineer. There was also a temporary
bridge team to build the temporary bridge over the Wei River until the
more difficult permanent bridge could be built. The head of all the
bridge teams was an engineer. His deputy, a Communist, took charge of
personnel and supplies and acted as treasurer and accountant. The office
staff consisted of government employees and temporary employees of. the
bridge teams, who later became permanent railway employees. The field
staffs, made up of skilled workers, included woodworkers, masons, crane
operators, riveters, painters, and miscellaneous workers. Each branch
had a foreman who was not a Communist. Work on Wei River bridge at the
peak of activities required 800 persons; the smallest bridge team had
over 100 persons.
7. Not many Communist Party members were involved in the construction work.
Only the deputy and the various low-level cadres in supply and personnel
units were Communists, but the procedures were Communist directed. After
the bridges were completed, the rating of the whole work began. The
reconditioning took one month; the rating of the reconditioning took two
months.
8. When the reconditioning of the line itself was completed, the recondi-
tioning of the stations and the water towers was begun from Fangtzu to
Tsingtao. These projects were let to contractors.
Approved For Release 2002/07/24: CIA-RDP80-0081OA004100570003-1
25X1A
 Approved For Release 2002/07/24: CIA-RDP80-0081OA004100570003-1
CONFIDENTIAL
The construction of the bridges after they had passed the Soviet tests in
1952 was as follows:
The Wen River bridge had six or seven 30-meter spans. The piers were
constructed of concrete. It was a deck bridge of plate girder type
(d.p.g.), weight permitted was 5,000 pounds per foot of bridge (E-50),
and was single tracked.
The Wei River bridge had six 30-meter spans, d.p.g., and two 40-meter
spans of the through-truss type (t.w.t.). The old piers had been so
damaged that completely new concrete ones had to be put in. The maxi-
mum weight was verified by the Russians at E-50 after one span failed
to meet the first test and was subsequently strengthened. The spans
of the bridge were in the following order counting from east to west:
span 1, d.p.g.; spans 2-3, t.w.t.; and spans 4-8, d.pg.
c. The Chiao River bridge had five spans, all d.p.g. The materials for
two of the spans came from the United States stockpile in Hsuchow.
The other details were the same as in the other bridges,
d. The original bridge over the Taku River had six or seven spans. Tide
water from the sea, however, blocked the flow of the Taku River, and
so the Chinese Communists cut another side river or canal west of the
Taku River to aid the flow of water. When the bridge was replaced,
two spans were added to the bridge, which then had eight or.nine spans,
all d.p.g. The material for the two new spans over the canal came
from the United States' stockpile. Other details were the same as
in the other bridges.
5X1A
Approved For Release 2002/07/24: CIA-RDP80-0081OA004100570003-1
 Approved For Release 2002/07/24: CIA-RDP80-00810A004100570003-1
'DST41 L.. or- 9oT7E ZNc.\os IRE PtSf V E
Sketch of the Construction of Bridge Buttresses
CONpIDNN'TmI,
4_
CONFIDENTIAL
`J
25X1A
Approved For Release 2002/07/24: CIA-RDP80-00810A004100570003-1