New rail line next to highway creates a stir
By Dong Zhen |
August 26, 2011, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A high-speed railway being built near Shaoxing, in east China's Zhejiang Province, has raised public-safety concerns because it's extremely close to a busy highway.
The Shaoxing highway management said the railway sits only 5.8 meters away from the expressway at its closest point, which it calls too dangerous.
But the railway authority and construction firm argued the design is safe enough.
Worsening the dispute: There are plans to widen the expressway, which would create even less space between the two transport facilities.
A highway administration manager said the rail construction has been under way for nine months and is nearly halfway finished, despite repeated safety warnings issued to the builder by the highway management.
Zhou Xinhua, an official with the Shaoxing highway administration, told the Qianjiang Evening News that the gap between the rail track and highway is too narrow and violates the design standards for public infrastructures under Chinese law.
Road authority officials said they found the closest distance between the two facilities was 5.8 meters with the farthest being 16.5 meters. Under highway and rail construction safety standards, the two should lie at least 30 meters apart. Highway officials fear that vehicles veering off the road in emergencies or accidents could hit the rail track and collide with speeding trains.
"The high-speed railway will be three to five meters higher than the highway, but some cargo vans will be above four meters tall," said a highway official. "It's still possible for such vehicles to crash onto the rail track in accidents."
The railway authority said it's possible only for vehicles to slam into the concrete viaducts supporting the future rail, not the tracks themselves.
The provincial government authority has launched an investigation but has so far ordered no suspension of the rail line's construction.
The Shaoxing highway management said the railway sits only 5.8 meters away from the expressway at its closest point, which it calls too dangerous.
But the railway authority and construction firm argued the design is safe enough.
Worsening the dispute: There are plans to widen the expressway, which would create even less space between the two transport facilities.
A highway administration manager said the rail construction has been under way for nine months and is nearly halfway finished, despite repeated safety warnings issued to the builder by the highway management.
Zhou Xinhua, an official with the Shaoxing highway administration, told the Qianjiang Evening News that the gap between the rail track and highway is too narrow and violates the design standards for public infrastructures under Chinese law.
Road authority officials said they found the closest distance between the two facilities was 5.8 meters with the farthest being 16.5 meters. Under highway and rail construction safety standards, the two should lie at least 30 meters apart. Highway officials fear that vehicles veering off the road in emergencies or accidents could hit the rail track and collide with speeding trains.
"The high-speed railway will be three to five meters higher than the highway, but some cargo vans will be above four meters tall," said a highway official. "It's still possible for such vehicles to crash onto the rail track in accidents."
The railway authority said it's possible only for vehicles to slam into the concrete viaducts supporting the future rail, not the tracks themselves.
The provincial government authority has launched an investigation but has so far ordered no suspension of the rail line's construction.
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