TRANSPORTATION - RAIL, BRIDGE, CONSTRUCTION MILITARY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700210107-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 10, 2002
• Sequence Number: 107
• Publication Date: March 10, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

r
CLASSIFICAT~~N RESTRICTED
SECURITY INFORMATION
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT NO.
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
25X1A
COUNTRY China DATE OF
INFORMATION 1952
SUBJECT Transportation - Rail, bridge, construction
HOW Military DATE DIV. 10 Mar 1953
PUBLISHED Daily newspapers
WHERE
PUBLISHED Hong Kong; Peiping NO. OF PAGES 4
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DATE
PUBLISHED 12 - 14 Nov 1952
LANGUAGE Chinese SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
INII OOOONIN1 CONTAIN! INIONNA ION .111M.0 YN1 N01DNAL O(t(NI
OF Tllt UNITCD 1T09I. ?I Tw IN Tw[ wt AMINO 01 T11LC IS. ICCTIDNI 1I1
LAD 164. OF TN[ U.S. CODE. AS ANCNOCD. III TRANSMISSION ON AtVE.
YELLOW RIVER BRIDGE ON PEIPING-HANKOW LINE
CAN HANDLE ALL TRAIN SPEEDS AND WEIGHTS
fumtary: The Yellow River Bridge on the Peiping-Hankow
Line has been completely repaired and now can handle traffic
nine times greater in volume than that prior to liberation,
with no restriction as to weight of locomotives or weight and
speed of trains.
Plans for strengthening the bridge, developed by Soviet
ahvisers, were carried out in five stages. The operations
of "the first three stages, accomplished in September 1950,
inci ded replacement of all ties and rails with new ones,
testing of the quality of steel and the strength of the
trusses to determine the nature and amount of strengthening
needed, and the reinforcement of the trusses as indicated by
the tests.
The work of the fourth and fifth stages, completed in
October 1952, included the repair and reinforcement of the
bridge piers, in which damaged pipe piles were replaced by
piles made from steel rails riveted together, and the re-
placement of all the old bridge trusses with new ones.
On 7 November 1952, locomotive 2077, Mikado No 1 type,
drew a train of 62 cars, with a load of 2,400 tons, across
the bridge at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour.]
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K'ai-feng, 11 November -The Yellow River Bridge, on the Peiping-Hankow
Live near Cheng-chou, is now as good as new, and at a cost of only 30 percent
of that of a new bridge. The task of reconstruction was begun in December
1949 and has been carried forward continuously since then in five stages.
The fifth stage was completed at the end of October 1952, and celebration of
the completed reconstruction took plytce at the bridge site or. 7 November 1952.
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There is now no restriction on the weight of locomotives, on the 14,;agth
or weight of trains, nor on the speed at which they may cross the bridge.
The capacity of the bridge to handle train traffic between the two stations
at either end of the bridge, Yellow River North and Yellow River South, which
are 5 kilometers apart, is now nine times what it was prior to liberation.
RECONSTRUCTION OF THE BRIDGE-- Hong Kong, Ta Kung Pao, 14 Nov 52
K'ai-feng, 12 November (Hsin-hua) -- In November 1949, Soviet Railway
Bridge Expert Chikorenko began a meticulous examination of the bridge and
all of its members. On this basis of this examination, he stated that the
bridge could be strengthened so as to give good service for some years to
come, and that it would be much more economical to strengthen this bridge
than to build a new one at this time.
The Central People's Government accepted the advice of Soviet Advisers
Chikorenko and Zhilin and in tructed the Cheng-chou Railway Bureau to effect
the reconstruction of the bridge in accordance with this advice. Chikorenko
and Zhilin then proceeded to develop the plans and supervise the execution
cf the first three of five stages of operations. This work was con 1 shed
in September 1950. /Tor an account of these
The plans of the fourth and fifth stages were drawn up and their exe-
cution supervised by So?riet Adviser Gekhonov. Originally, the piers sup-
porting the superstructure were formed of steel-pipe piles screwed into the
bed of the river and braced together. In the course of time, many of these
piles had been more or less seriously damaged. Some had been replaced by
wooden piles which were not as strong or durable as the original piles. To
replace the damaged pipe piles with other pipe piles was found to be impos-
sible, because there was no way by which they could be screwed through the
layer of rock which in past years had been dumped into the river bed to pre-
vent scouring at times of flood. Consequently, the load which the bridge
could safely sustain was greatly reduced. This was the most serious prob-
lem which had gone unsolved for many years.
Gekhonov's solution was to rivet four steel rails together to form
one pile, and to drive them through the layer of rock. Another feature of
his advice was to make use of willow withe mattresses and rock to be sunk
at the foot of the piers for their protection.
Gekhonov :lainod that such steel. rail piles would be as strong as the
original pipe piles, be equally able to carry the weight of the heaviest
locomotives, and their use would restore the uniformly ample load capacity
for all the piers of the bridge. This method had never before been used on
the Yellow River Bridge, and the .;hLnese engineers were doubtful as ;o its
practicability. So in the summer of 1951, Gekhonov had a pile made up of
four steel rails and had it driven into the bank of the river using a ram
wriohinc i 100 y, ;,I,e piie ariver. 'rnen oy placing weights upon it,
it was proved that the pile could support a weight of 190 tons or more.
Each small pier was to have four such piles, and the large piers six piles.
This proved that piers thus repaired or strengthened would be able to sup-
port the .might of the heaviest locomotives. In view of this demonstration,
the Chinese engine-r- were convinced, and in the fourth stage of the opera-
tions this method was followed to vstrengthen all of the damaged piers. The
use of willow mattresses was also proven to be effective and was adopted
by the railway engineers as an indispensable method for protecting the bridge.
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The work of the fifth stage was to replace all of the 100 bridge spans
with new spans, simultaneously adjv.st the height of some of the piers to se-
sure uniformity, and to attend to any other needed repairs. These tasks were
much greater and more difficult than all that had been previously undertaken.
In May 3.951, when this work was about to begin, a debate arose as to whether
it was possiole to carry out the replacement of trusaes without suspending
train operations over the bridge. Some engineers considered that it would
be necessary to suspend use of the bridge for 1-2 months, and that during
that period the through trains between Peiping and Hankow would have to be
rerouted using the Tientsin-P,u-k'ou Line between Peiping and Su^.how, and
the Lung-Hai 'Line between Suchow and Cheng-chou. This was objected to on
the ground that it would put too great a burden on the other lines and dis-
rupt the rail transportation of the whole country.
Gekhonov was summoned again from Heng-yang, and at Cheng-chou met Lu
Cheng-tslao, one of the vice-ministers of railways. As a result of their
consultation it ass decided. not to have the trains make any detour, nor to
have them stop using the bridge for any long period, but to carry on both
operations even though it might tLke a little longer to complete the in-
stallation of the new spans. This was effected by adjusting the train
schedules so that the bridge workers had at least one uninterrupted 8-hour
work period during each 24-hour day. Thus, there was no suspension of train
service even for one day.
Now through the earnest and intelligent aid of the Soviet advisers,
and the industry, resourcefulner-a, and fortitude of the Chinese engineers
and workmen, the reconstruction of the Yellow River Bridge has been vic-
toriously completed, and we have a bridge that is as good as new, at a
coat of only 30 percent of what a new bridge would cost at this time, and
at a great saving in time. This sore on the Peiping-Hankow Line has now
been re;aoved, and this line is now able fullr to resume its place as one
of the main north-south arteries of transportation.--Yuan Pleng, staff
writer, Hsin-hua She
The five stages in the strengthening of the Yellow River Bridge were
as follows:
The first stage of operations, carried out in January 1950, included
the replacement of all ties and rails with new material, repairs to piers
No 15 and. No 22; and the inspection and tightening of all bolts on the
trusses.
The second stage, carried out February - March 1950, included testing
by scientific techniques of the steel in the existing trusses, the load
capacity of each span, and the determination of the nature and amount of
strengthening needed to make them able to meet standard requirements.
...~ U,irn stage, carried out May - September 1950, included the repair
and reinforcement of existing spans in the light of the tests and calcula-
tions indicated in stage No 2.
The fourth stage, carried out Apr4l - June 1951, included replacement
of damaged piles in bridge piers, and alignment of pier...
The fifth stage, carried out June 1951 - October 1952, included the
replacement of all old bridge trusses with new trusses, adjustment of height
of piers, and all other repair work not already attended to.
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tithe article concluded with the following statement-:7
The strengthening of this railway bridge has been carried out in five
stages in step with the expanding volume of traffic on this line. For the
past 3 years it has assured us of normal transportation on this line. But
if a new bridge is to be built, it will require more than two years, and
during that period the burden of transportation will have to be carried by
the old bridge. Hence, - it still will be necessary to cortinue work on the
strengthening of the old bridge and for the country to provide the expenses
entailed in its maintenance."--Liu Chien-chang, chief of Cheng-chou Railway
Bureau.
On 7 November, during the ceremony celebrating the completion of this
great strengthening project, a Milmdo No 1 type locomotive, No 2077, pulled
a train of 62 cars, weighing a total of 2,400 tons, across the bridge at a
speed of 60 kilometers per hour.
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