Saturday, November 13, 2021

Reflections on Events in Afghanistan-34 — MK. Bhadrakumar

China appreciates that Uzbekistan has a fairly developed internal railway network and has potential as a regional hub. Thus, as part of its Belt and Road Initiative, China has longstanding plans to construct a railway from Xinjiang through Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan and onward to Turkmenistan (and Iran.) The main hitch has been that Beijing insisted that the new rail line should adopt tracks with 1,435 millimetres width, which China and most of the world use, while the Soviet-era Russian gauge of 1,520 millimetres is prevalent in Central Asia. 

Trust Chinese ingenuity to find a technological solution by double-tracking with the narrower international gauge run inside the larger Russian one, which would also reduce costs of the project by eliminating the need to make transitions at the Chinese-Kyrgyzstani and Turkmenistani-Iranian borders. 

In fact, a 2.2 kilometre long Sino-Russian Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye railway bridge across the Amur River, the latest project completed under China’s ambitious Belt and Road initiative, has become a ‘technology demonstrator’ using the new method of double tracking. 

The first test train crossed the border in August. The Chinese Communist Party has stated as the goal a rail link all the way to London. With the commissioning of the bridge, the railway transportation distance from China’s Heilongjiang province to Moscow will be shortened by 809 kilometres, cutting 10 hours of transportation time....

Interesting info on developments in Central Asia, but the takeaway is double tracking as explained in the above quotation.

India Punchline
Reflections on Events in Afghanistan-34
MK. Bhadrakumar | retired diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service.

16 comments:

Peter Pan said...

Double tracking is a rather old innovation.

Peter Pan said...

Dual, Triple, Quadruple Gauge

Tom Hickey said...

Interesting. I hadn't heard of it.

Previously, gauge difference had been mentioned as obstacle to a Shanghai-London railway connection.

Anyway, they are on this.

Ahmed Fares said...

Have you ever wondered what keeps the train on the track?

Well, wonder no more.

Feynman: How the train stays on the track FUN TO IMAGINE 7

Peter Pan said...

Meanwhile, in the US:
Blasting down bad track Doubleheader on the ND&W Railway (Maumee and Western)

Check out a closeup of the rails at the 4 minute mark.

Flanges are a safety feature!

lastgreek said...

Okay, here's one:

Have you ever wondered why Joe Rogan is the number one podcaster in the United States?

(Mike Norman, best you take note.)

Well, wonder no more!

‘Super flexible’ Joe Rogan says he can perform fellatio on himself

Considering Rogan has tiny hands, that is indeed a remarkable reach ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

https://nypost.com/2021/11/12/joe-rogan-says-he-can-perform-oral-sex-on-himself/

Matt Franko said...

Why don’t they just drop the box onto a mobilizer that is the correct gauge when they transition regions?

Matt Franko said...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrow-gauge_railroads_in_the_United_States

Matt Franko said...

“The first narrow-gauge common-carrier railroad was the Billerica and Bedford Railroad, which ran from North Billerica to Bedford in Middlesex County, Massachusetts from 1877 to 1878.”

We’ve been doing it since 1877 are these turd world USD zombie people dumb? Can’t even hack us correctly?

Matt Franko said...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_(mechanical_device)

Of course China rickshaws don’t have differentials… China might just be hacking this from us presently as they transition from rickshaws…

What ever would they do without us?

S400 said...

“Of course China rickshaws don’t have differentials“

Put a differential in a rickshaw would be as stupid as Matt is as it would only drain energy, based on how the rickshaw is supposed to work. You see, this is why the US is behind, there are to many providing the thinking quality Matt is providing.

Chinese rail road technology is top notch. Deal with it. Chinese 5G is also top notch. Is the US top notch in those areas? Nope, The US will have to rely on other countries development. In 5G Sweden is one of those countries. That’s why Trump wanted to buy Ericsson.

A better solution would of course been to allow the Chinese providers of 5G and then do as the Chinese, develope THAT to be even better than what the Chinese created. Massive envy and cry baby solution will get the US nowhere.

The quicker you stop listening to the thinking of people like Matt the better off the US will be. It’s just painful to see the massive envy of Matt.

Matt Franko said...

If you are presently transitioning from 2 tin cans tied together with strung then yes you would go directly to 5G …

S400 said...

Are you saying that China isn’t top notch in developing 5G? They are. With idiots like Matt as the “knowledgeable” work force it definitely will go downhill.

Matt Franko said...

5G is the current state of the technology in wireless telephony…. no matter where on the plant you are…

iow if you are implementing a new wireless service you use 5G… if you did it 20 years ago you used 3G… etc…. again no matter where you are…

S400 said...

Lol you simply cannot understand that’s a technology in development. 5G is not finished and US I way behind.

Peter Pan said...

7G fusion reactors are coming to a neighbourhood near you.