Chapter 711 Heavy-haul Railway (First update, please subscribe)
Of course, Li Yi'an, who was inspecting the United States, knew nothing about the "care" from that loving steel father.
During the inspection in Seattle, Li Yian even learned about Boeing's jetliner project when he visited Boeing's factory. But at this time... well, Boeing has not really started this project yet. .
Even when Li Yian asked this question, the CEO of Boeing was a little confused.
In fact, even if Boeing was inspired by the "Comet" airliner and began to develop a jet airliner, it would still take two years from the early research plan to the launch of the project. In other words, the current “707 Project” in Nanyang is the only one in the world. No, it should be the only three jet passenger projects that are being promoted. One is carrying out test flights and demonstrations with great enthusiasm, symbolizing the advancement of the British Empire. The most productive "Comet" passenger aircraft, while the other two... are both from Nanyang, one is a 707 and the other is a 717.
In the development of jet airliners, Nanyang is really far ahead!
However, Li Yian is not satisfied with this. After all, before the aircraft has been tested and put into actual use, all projects are "PPT" projects, the kind that are not worth mentioning.
After leaving Seattle, Li Yian went to Los Angeles again. Although it was the same as the last time, the Hollywood tycoons once again warmly received him. It was here that he reunited with his old friend again - Jane ·Adele.
However, now her stage name has become Marilyn Monroe.
Since we were reunited with old friends, we had to have a long chat, so after the banquet, Monroe came to Li Yian's room again.
We were all friends, we just talked all night long. That's all. In fact, there were other choices, but people are always nostalgic.
Two days later, Li Yian, who had finished his visit to the United States, finally embarked on a journey back to Nanyang. However, after flying from Hawaii to Dongning, Li Yian did not return to Chang'an immediately, but went to Australia. .
In Australia, he has an estate. No, it should be Margaret's estate.
Although the land rights in the Pilbara region have now been transferred to Margaret, and development began later, after the Whaleback Mountain Iron Mine was developed, faced with this mine with reserves of billions of tons Capitals from all over the world are jealous of iron ore.
But jealousy is jealousy, and capital is still self-aware. After all, the land in this area is the property of Princess Margaret of the British Empire, and no one dares to seize it from the tiger's mouth.
But they still voted with their feet. After multiple iron mines were discovered in the Pilbara region, capital soon voted with their feet. A large number of British-funded related companies settled in Perth and began exploration and development in Western Australia. Over the past few years, the influx of capital into Western Australia has even outstripped the traditionally more favored East Australian region.
It is precisely because of the crazy influx of capital that Western Australia has successively discovered large-scale copper mines, gold mines, coal mines and other mineral resources. As the original creator, Li Yi'an certainly knows the real source. There.
“This is Whaleback Mountain!”
Standing on Jingbei Mountain, looking at the large mine carts driving on the open-pit mine, Li Yian couldn’t calm down for a long time. In another world, the iron mine The pain has always restricted China's steel industry.
But Nanyang is even worse than China - there are only a few poor iron mines with low content in the mainland. Therefore, since the development of the Whaleback Mountain iron mine, it has become the source of raw materials for Nanyang's steel industry.
"Your Excellency, the Whaleback Mountain Iron Ore is a rare high-quality iron ore in the world. Its average grade exceeds 70%. It can even be put directly into the blast furnace without magnetic separation, and the output is large. The current output of the mine is limited to two One is the demand for ore in Nanyang, and the other is the transportation capacity. If the transportation capacity is sufficient, it can even be exported to the United States. "
Although the land in this area, including the Pacific Mining Company, nominally belongs to Malta. Gretel, but she only came here a few years ago. The management of the company has always been under the responsibility of Anderson Witt. He is a typical British man who has his own unique way of mining operations.
“Is it a railway?”
Li Yian asked.
Before the development of the Whaleback Mountain Iron Mine, there was no railway in Western Australia at all. Because the iron ore was located inland, a railway needed to be built to transport the ore. This railway was also invested by Pacific Railroad.
"Yes, the current transportation has reached the bottleneck. Western Australia's iron ore and coal need to be transported through this railway. Although we have increased the frequency of flights, in the future, we need to add repair lines to To meet transportation needs.”
“Double line, well, this is very necessary. In the future, hundreds of millions of tons, or even hundreds of millions of tons of iron ore, coal and other minerals may need to be transported here. However, Just relying on double-tracking is not enough."
After thinking about it, Li Yian said,
"The company can study the heavy load of the railway together with the Railway Technology Research Institute and find ways to improve the train capacity. Yes, that is, heavy-haul railway. "Heavy-haul railway?"
Anderson asked with some confusion.
"What is a heavy-haul railway?"
"A heavy-haul railway is very simple. It is a train with a total weight and axle weight that carries bulk cargo. How should I say it? It is through increasing The power and carriages of the train increase its transportation capacity. In the past, a train could only transport 3,000 tons. By improving the capacity, it may even transport tens of thousands of tons..."
In another world, heavy-haul transportation originated more than ten years later. In North America, the coal train in the United States at that time was 6,500 meters long, weighed 44,000 tons, and consisted of 6 locomotives and 500 carriages. In the 21st century, the world record for a heavy-haul train towing a total weight of 99,734 tons was set on Australia's Mount Newman to Headland heavy-haul railway.
By the mid-to-late 20th century, heavy-duty trains had become the most common basic technology. For example, the largest first-class railroad company in the United States, the Union Pacific Railway Company, which has 54,000 kilometers of railways, has an average traction weight of all its trains. It has reached 14,900 tons! It can be said that overloading has basically been fully realized.
Of course, China is not bad either. China has the longest single heavy-haul railway in the world, the Daqin Railway, with a designed annual transportation capacity of 100 million tons. However, within a few years of reaching the designed transportation capacity, it only used 450 million tons. The annual transportation volume of tons has successfully set a world record for heavy-haul railways.
After briefly explaining the principles of heavy-haul railway, Li Yian said.
“The company can cooperate with the Railway Technology Research Institute to study the overloading of railways. This is also a very important technology. If it succeeds, the technology can be exported in the future.”< br>
Technology can indeed be exported. After all, heavy-duty railways are the future development direction. Perhaps Nanyang, which is surrounded by seas, does not rely on railway transportation, but it can be exported to the United States, Europe, South Africa, Brazil and other countries.
Nanyang cannot become a major railway country, but it is not impossible to become a major railway technology country!
In fact, this is the difficulty of Nanyang. It is limited by territory and natural environment. No matter how hard we try, there will be many restrictions. For example, railways, no matter how much they are built, are not as strong as ships, but honestly It is also a good choice to become a technologically powerful country with advanced research technology.
Who said that if a country does not have many railways, it cannot be a powerful country in railway technology!
In the next few days, Li Yian inspected Pacific Mining's copper mines and coal mines in Western Australia. These mines were commercially acquired by the company. The reason why the British capital was willing to sell them was because... The railway belongs to Pacific Mining Company. If they want to develop it, they will build the railway themselves, so those companies finally chose to cooperate with Pacific Mining Company and jointly develop it by selling mining shares.
This also allowed Pacific Mining Company to monopolize the mining industry in Western Australia. It was not a monopoly, but a cooperative development.
Of course, if those people refuse to cooperate in development, then the railway company will definitely refuse to transport their goods.
Of course, things must not be done so obviously. Railway companies will only use another method - increasing freight.
They could even increase the freight to something close to the price of building a railroad.
In this situation, everyone knows what choice to make.
So, in the end, everyone will happily choose to cooperate with Pacific Mining Company.
They are all voluntary.
Lamenting the active cooperation of the British and American capitalists, Li Yi'an was lamenting his own advantages at the moment.
"This is the benefit of first-mover advantage! We must firmly seize this advantage in the future."
(End of this chapter)