On June 16th, Hatan-Ruoqiang Railway opened in Northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, as the last section of the 2,712-km loop line circling the Taklimakan, Chinas largest desert. Now China has made a new record for constructing the worlds first railway loop circling a desert.

Photo credit to China Daily

The rail line, inbuilt with a hourly speed of 120 km, connects to the Korla-Kashgar, Kashgar-Hotan and Golmud-Korla railways. 22 stations are out there on the line, half of which provide passenger service. The journey from Hotan to Ruoqiang now takes about 11 hours or so. The loop line passes five prefecture-level regions in Xinjiang and connects to the Golmud-Korla railway, which links the city of Golmud in Qinghai province and the city of Korla in Xinjiang. This is the third railway linking Xinjiang with other parts of China. The line brings railway service to some new places in southern Xinjiang, boosting socioeconomic development and promoting rural vitalization in the region.

To allow this construction miracle to happen, Midea Group, Chinas leading AC manufacturer headquartered in Foshan, has been heavily involved as the main supplier for the base station on Hatan-Ruoqiang Railway. Taklimakan desert, notoriously known as "Sea of Death", has then been cooled down with some chilly air.

A base station plays a key role for rail operation, which oftentimes runs nonstop from automatic machinery monitoring, power monitoring, anti-disaster solutions and so. How to control the temperature in a even dessert environment has been a massive challenge for the operator. AC parameters such as temperature, humidity and cleanliness also affect the safe running of base station.

To make ACs more adaptable in a desert environment, Midea has upgraded all the facilities, computer rooms, and control rooms, without scaling up power consumption. For all terminals, all ACs have been embedded with G4 filters, so as to minimize the impact of wind and sand. In all computer rooms, engineers from Midea engineers from Midea have redesigned the interior AC system, by mainly fine-tuning the air outlets to a "double-sided air return" model. That largely boosted air circulation. The opening of the Hatan-Ruoqiang Railway, seen as a national pride of greater inter-connectivity, has helped rewrite the epic corporate story of Midea.

Author | Jersey

Revisor | Ivy, Eleanor

Photo | China Daily