News on China's scientific and technological development.
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kwaigonegin
Colonel
The train's advantage is the ability of one engine to pull magnitudes of order more it's own weight and size. the tracks prevents it from any independent steering and also for equalized weight distribution.
Like you said this is more a tram than a train. I don't see this thing hauling a million tons of coal anytime soon but it's probably a great people mover in the more urban setting.
Having it's own virtual track does offer it's advantages.. more like a trackless subway system. It would be more cost effective because of the elimination of the rail infrastructure.
kwaigonegin
Colonel
China’s planning a 1,000km tunnel to divert water away from one of India’s largest rivers
Now this seem like a good idea killing 2 birds at the same time converting Xinjiang dessert into land of milk and honey aka California. While at the same time potentially reducing the water flow to Brahma putra if India get too aggressive
Here is abbreviated version of the report in SCMP
Chinese engineers plan 1,000km tunnel to make Xinjiang desert bloom
via broadsword from CDF
China is working on an incredibly ambitious water diversion project involving the Brahmaputra, one of India’s largest rivers, which may become another point of tension between the two Asian neighbours.
Chinese engineers are testing techniques that could be used to build a 1,000-kilometre (km) tunnel—the world’s longest—to carry water from Tibet to Xinjiang, a barren region in northwest China, according to (SCMP). The project would divert water from the Yarlung Tsangpo River in southern Tibet, which turns into the Brahmaputra once it enters India, to the Taklamakan desert in Xinjiang.
“The proposed tunnel, which would drop down from the world’s highest plateau in multiple sections connected by waterfalls, would ‘turn Xinjiang into California’,” the SCMP reported, quoting an anonymous geotechnical engineer. Xinjiang, China’s largest administrative division, comprises vast swathes of uninhabitable deserts and dry grasslands.
The feasibility of the proposed Tibet-Xinjiang project is being tested along a 600km tunnel in China’s Yunnan region.
“The water diversion project in central Yunnan is a demonstration project,” Zhang Chuanqing, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, told the SCMP. Chuanqing, according to the newspaper, has played a key role in many major Chinese water tunnel projects. “It is to show we have the brains, muscle, and tools to build super-long tunnels in hazardous terrains, and the cost does not break the bank,” he said.
The Yunnan project comprises over 60 sections, all of which are wide enough to fit in two high-speed trains, that will pass through high-altitude mountains. “Fault zones are our biggest headache,” Zhang explained. “If we can secure a solution, it will help us get rid of the main engineering obstacles to getting water from Tibet to Xinjiang.”
Over the years, China has developed exceptional infrastructure-building capabilities, some of which have been implemented in the Tibet region. “Nobody thought that there could be a railway line in Tibet, but the Chinese government has done so. So, there shouldn’t be any doubts about China building the tunnel,” Lobsang Yangtso, a research associate at the non-profit coalition, International Tibet Network, told Quartz.
But Yangtso warned that the Tibet Plateau has been witnessing climate change, with water crises in many parts of the Himalayan region. “The region is also earthquake-prone and it could lead to a huge natural disaster,” she added. Moreover, any project that diverts water from upstream Brahmaputra is likely to rile up both New Delhi and Dhaka, as the river is a major water resource for both northeastern India and Bangladesh. India has, in the past, raised being built on the Yarlung Tsangpo.
“There are currently no water treaties between India, China, and Bangladesh,” said Yangtso, whose research has focused on Chinese environmental policies in Tibet. “India will certainly have to take a strong stand as far as this project goes, as it can be disastrous for India and Bangladesh.”
If this project is realized, I can see India going to war with her neighbor. While it may be legal to do so since it is within China's border, diverting water upstream is not something that can or must be taken lightly. It will have potentially catastrophic consequences downstream.
manqiangrexue
Brigadier
If China is weak, India may choose war. If China is strong, they will choose warm, friendly relations.
And since this is such a magnanimous, long term project, India will have plenty of time to gradually warm and cozy up to Beijing without looking like they just dropped to their knees when they saw their own tombstone being forged. Plenty of face-saving opportunity as Beijing is so kind and generous.
Plus, if India is on its best behavior, China can even help them get by monsoon season with a lot less pain by stemming floodwaters when appropriate.
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Equation
Lieutenant General
Still that is India's problem not China. She can try to go to war with China all she want the fact of the matter she has NO control of where the water flows outside of its border. It can though start using building large desalination project to subsidize it. But than again that depends greatly on the effectiveness of the Indian government to do any large and difficult projects on its own.
vesicles
Colonel
Has there been any precedence for a country to mess with its neighbor's key resources? It sounds like China is planning to do something very naughty... How would India properly respond without going to war? Is there any precedence for something like this?
manqiangrexue
Brigadier
If they were sensible, they would be Beijing's best friend at every turn. If they were Doklam-minded, however, they could spend the better part of a decade getting an empty ruling from some useless decrepit court somewhere only to have it ignored just like in the South China Sea.
solarz
Brigadier
Iraq and Kuwait comes to mind...
The fact seems to be:
Make your own judgement. It is not the first time these kind of "China threatening India" stories come up. It will not be the last. It is not only Indian medias who pit India against China, many Chinese language medias (outside China) do the same. They may sound to be opponents but they serve a common narrative, which makes me wonder if they have the same pay master.
The reason that SCMP's story resonant among some Chinese is because people are pissed off by recent Indian behaviors. But just be careful not to let ones emotion and anger to assist the enemy's propaganda campaign.
FYI, SCMP is quite anti-China. It is a Hong Kong based news.
- There is a real ongoing 600km tunnel unrelated to India.
- There is a Chinese scientist talking about the engineering work of that 600km tunnel.
- SCMP immediately imagined a 1000km tunnel "threatening" India.
- QZ.com (seemingly Indian site) picked up the SCMP article.
- IMO, SCMP is far from reliable, very often sentimentally stirring up dust.
Make your own judgement. It is not the first time these kind of "China threatening India" stories come up. It will not be the last. It is not only Indian medias who pit India against China, many Chinese language medias (outside China) do the same. They may sound to be opponents but they serve a common narrative, which makes me wonder if they have the same pay master.
The reason that SCMP's story resonant among some Chinese is because people are pissed off by recent Indian behaviors. But just be careful not to let ones emotion and anger to assist the enemy's propaganda campaign.
FYI, SCMP is quite anti-China. It is a Hong Kong based news.
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
Well this water diversion project has been discussed since Qing dynasty and PRC keep updating it with new technology
The main hurdle is technology and cost as well as difficult geological formation(seismic and landslide)
Here is a quote from the original article
The earliest proposals to divert water from Tibet to Xinjiang were made by Qing dynasty officials Lin Zexu and Zuo Zongtang in the 19th century. In recent decades, Chinese government branches, including the Ministry of Water Resources, have come up with engineering blueprints involving huge dams, pumps and tunnels.
The project’s enormous cost, engineering challenges, possible environmental impact and the likelihood of protests by neighbouring countries have meant it has never left the drawing board, but Zhang Chuanqing, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics in Wuhan, Hubei province, said China was now taking a quiet, step-by-step approach to bring it to life.
But now technology has progressed and new way is found to alleviate the problem with passing thru seismic area
They will make it flexible tunnel by building it in section and connecting it with articulation section like subway
As well as big and large TBM(tunnel boring machine) is now feasible
Another problem is the steep drop from 5000 m to sea level nothing will survive water rush from that height . So they planned to slow it down by cascading thru series of power station
As to problem with India only half of the headwaters for Yarlong Tsangpo aka Brahma putra comes from Tibet the rest come from Indian territory So it will reduce the flow but not completely shut off the flow But that is bad enough
So they have to convince themselves that they can do it within reasonable cost.
But the pay off will be immense imagine a blooming Xinjiang with its rich mineral sources and wide open space that can be converted to farmland and cities alleviating highly dense and overcrowding of Chinese heart land
I believe they already submitted the proposal and it is only matter of when and not if