8
38
66 tunnels.
involving as it does heavy rock cutting, tunnelling, and
the construction of high bridges and large retaining walls.
The original location of this section as planned by the
American Engineers of the old Yueh Han Railway called for
The new location, based on the studies of
Messrs. Y.C. Lee and 2.8. Liu, now both District Engineers
Construction, places about 24 miles of the line on the
Kwangtung side along the east bank of the upper course of
the North River, This has reduced the number of tunnels
to 14 at the expense of an increase in protective work.
The scenery from Lok Chong to Ping Shek (a distance of 32
miles) where the river passes through gorges is extremely
beautiful.
15. The line runs through good quality dark coloured
limestone and treacherous shale in the gorge section, and
I fear that there may be considerable dislocation to
traffic in times of heavy rainfall due to the certainty
of slips in the shale banks and cuttings. The formation
level has been placed 9 feet above maximum known river
flood level. This is rather a small safety margin and
there is a probability that in years to come the line may
be damaged considerably by inundation, necessitating very
heavy repair work.
16. The location over the divide has enabled a
satisfactory maximum grade of 1 in 100 without curve
compensation to be obtained.
This occurs for a length of
14 miles on both sides of the summit which rises to a
height of about 1161 feet above sea level. The maximum curvature over this portion is 7o, maxing the ruling grade
1 in 80 which is approximately equal to that of the
British Section, of the Canton Kowloon Railway.
17.
Many parts of the original railway location have
been used for the Heng chow Ping Shek highway. This has