Shandong to probe Lairong rail quality questions

The Shandong Provincial Department of Transport has established a special team to conduct a thorough investigation into construction quality issues associated with the Lairong high-speed railway on Thursday.

The department has pledged that the investigation will yield results in a timely manner.

The Lairong high-speed railway, connecting Laixi in Qingdao and Rongcheng in Weihai, both in Shandong province, was reported to have quality issues by media outlets on Thursday.

Henan Sanjie Industrial Co, a subcontractor for drilling poles for a section of the subgrade of the railway, reported that China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Corp, the main contractor, was suspected of cheating on construction materials.

Sanjie company said that most of the threaded piles didn't meet the standards in designed depth, which will considerably reduce the amount of concrete filled into the drilled poles, Economic Information Daily reported.

As an important part of the high-speed railway, the subgrade of the railway line matters in trains' operation safety.

China State Construction Engineering Corp, which owns the eighth division company, told a reporter at Huaxia Times that the corporation has noticed the report and will closely monitor the situation to verify the claims.

In a statement issued on Thursday, China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Corp also promised to fully cooperate with the investigation.

The Lairong high-speed railway, with a designed speed of 350 kilometers per hour, has a total length of 192.36 km.

The project involves a total investment of 29.7 billion yuan ($4.14 billion).

Construction of the railway started in November 2020. It is scheduled to be ready for operation by the end of October.

CSCEC won the bid for the construction project of a section of the Lairong railway with a contract value of 3.15 billion yuan, published materials show.