Survey
No change to my previous reports. New record: we saw 11 return trips on a four hours visit. 100 Yuan per visitor entrance fee for visiting the “depot” and unloading yard is demanded as before.
Due to reconstruction work on at least two blast furnaces, the traffic was limited. Access was much better than in other steelworks with visits to blast furnace no. 1 and 4, loco shed and sludge dump permitted. They have at least three sludge dumps. Information about which dump will be served next wasn't available, so it was just a gamble to wait at one of the dumps for a train. Because of the limited operation, we failed on this dump but got a long lens shot of another one.
Locos seen were:
Dieselisation is going step by step and will be finished in about 2008.
Beside the steelworks there is a rolling mill which has it's own fleet of at least three SYs. In addition we saw an GK centre cab 6-6 loco loco working in the yard of the rolling mill. Access was denied because our permit covered the steelworks only.
In the loco shed of China Railways were still several JS locos. All were in very sad shape and in dumped condition. We didn't try to enter the shed.
I know that only a few from the circle of valued readers will be able to understand why I like this photo (below) so much. You need to have visited Inner Mongolia several times to grasp the concepts such as the endless vastness, space and time and what a railway line almost 1000 km long with steam haulage means. A journey to Patagonia also helps to comprehend this, except that there they don't have steam locos almost 30 metres long at the head of passenger trains that are travelling for more than 26 hours. The photo here was taken beyond Gulumanhan. Useless for loco class identification, three-quarter sun over your shoulder photographers or number fetishists. Only for connoisseurs...
100 % diesel (mainly) DF4B. Locos are state railway ones.
Please, pronounce it "Baitshi", otherwise you won't be able to purchase a ticket to the right place. I often heard Baiki – no local would be able to sell you the correct ticket.
The traffic to Benhong is nearly 100% diesel with DF4B and DF4D. Only the passenger is still a steam duty. Responsible for this section is the depot of Baiqi.
On this section, the loco depot of Baiqi is responsible for the traction. So they are using a diesel if ever it's possible. We saw about 80% steam and 20% diesel.
Still 100% steam over the famous Jingpeng Pass. We won't rename the pass, but Jingpeng is not the commonly used name in this area. They mainly call the city Keqi. Daban's locos serve this section.
For this section, Daban is responsible as well. As they just took over all steam locos of Chabuga, they are able to operate more than 50% of all freight trains with two engines. Whether it makes economic sense or not is doubtful.
This section was served by the locos from Chabuga until April 1st, 2004. Now the JiTong line leased DF4Bs from China Railways together with China Railways staff. The workers and engineers from Chabuga are at the state railway's school to learn how to drive and how to maintain diesel locomotives.
100% diesel on this short section, as ever.
The main question is: When will the remaining steam vanish? To make it short: nobody knows. All reports with fixed dates are rumours and guesswork. The managers in charge are not willing to give you a fixed date. It's a Chinese problem: the man who made a decision is responsible for the success of it. If you do not change a running system, you'll not make a mistake. All available information said that steam is by far cheaper than diesel, at least on the section Daban – Haoluku (see my previous reports). In March 2003 they made several more test runs with diesel over the pass. The result of these test runs was that the management was not satisfied. There are several reasons which are difficult to explain. Let us call them Chinese problems. However, it is a fact that neither economical nor technical concerns would stop dieselisation (as it didn't in any other part of the world so far I know – except tourist railways). The old game was played in Daban: Give them a black/white question and you'll get an answer that could fill a full evening. There aren't easy answers. However, there are some facts that clearly show the future:
1) All 30 steam locomotives assigned to Chabuga were sent to Daban.
2) 17 of the 30 locomotives are dumped in Daban, the rest went into service, mainly to improve the traction of the trains between Chabuga and Daban from single headed to double headed trains. Maybe, it's just to maintain the surplus manpower.
3) The loco depot of Chabuga, normally staffed with 240 employees, has only 60 remaining employees. The rest was sent to China Rail for education in diesel locomotives.
4) The school period for loco drivers is 15 days only. As long as they're not back to Daban, loco crews from China Railways are working on the leased DF4 locomotives of China Railways.
5) The education for maintenance workers will take 5 months. As long as this staff is not back to Chabuga, there will be leased China Railways locomotives on the line Tongliao – Chabuga. After they return to Chabuga, we will have to wait and see what will happen. Maybe, JiTong will purchase used diesels from the state railway.
6) Overhauls for QJs continues as usual. There are five workshops which are used by JiTong:
I reconfirmed Mudanjiang twice. Yes, they're still repairing steam locos for JiTong, although the works were closed for steam loco repairs two years ago. We saw QJ 6912 just returning to Baiqi from a heavy overhaul.
7) A group of engineers visited Daban to decide at which place they want to build the diesel fuel station. No additional work for diesel was done until now. No contract with a private company was signed, no parts were ordered. But, on paper everything is done already.
8) There is no opportunity to repair diesel locomotives in Daban until now. To establish the full facilities and train the workers they need at least six months.
9) They introduced a system of white, yellow and red stars to make it public which loco crew cares for the boilers of their engines well, and which do not. At every boiler washout they'll add a new star on the smoke deflectors. A red star shows to others that the boiler was in excellent condition, a yellow star is given for a boiler in medium shape, and a white star is for one in very bad condition. The loco crews will not get any additional payment for good boiler conditions. It is a competition for fame and recognition.
10) The loco crews will get money for saving coal and oil. They'll get a compensation for less consumption with the same amount as they saved money for the railway. The maximum premium is capped at 200 Yuan per month and per person.
11) The salaries improved another time. Loco drivers now can earn up to 2.000 Yuan per month, while firemen can earn up to 1.400 Yuan. JiTong is paying very good salaries to their workers and this improves the living conditions in the whole region. The local people are keen to get a job with the railway while it seems that the railway workers (although there are many thefts of railway property– to sell to foreigners) are at least a bit proud to be an employee of this railway.
12) There are plans to purchase new diesel, even if they have to spend a huge amount of money to do so. They're discussing about nine or ten in 2004. There is no decision made on which section they'll use these units. But there are people with a significant influence on decisions who want to see the first diesels on the section Daban - Haoluku over the Jingpeng pass.
13) Importantly, political decisions can not be forgotten and, if there is a member of the government or another high official who points his finger at Daban and says, that this line has to be dieselised as soon as possible, then within a few weeks all plans are cancelled and the line will be fully dieselised in less than two months!
14) The main problem for an overnight change of traction are the non existing facilities for the maintenance of diesels in Daban. in addition to the training of the "ground" staff.
According to the little information with which we can be reasonably confident, we can make some educated guesses.
JiTong will be dieselised for sure. It's only a question of a short time: in the best scenario two years; in the worst case, of two months. Dieselisation is planned step by step. In my opinion, steam operation over the pass will be untouched until August 2004. By the end of August, Chabuga will have both trained workers and facilities for diesel maintenance. So Daban can send their locos to Chabuga for repairs or scheduled checks. As the locos from Daban reach Chabuga regularly there is no problem in doing this. I think that the JiTong management will wait for some weeks before they introduce diesel on the pass to give the Chabuga staff time to get some experience in repairing diesels. So from October 2004 onwards I expect to see diesel on the section Daban – Haoluku. Not 100 % suddenly, but more and more. The next winter might be see some steam at the pass, but I do not expect the same spectacle as it was before as every train ran with steam.
So what to do? Go as soon and/or as often as you can. There is no other steam line in the world that can compete with JiTong (although it's not my favourite line in China - this is Hechi). I'll g there again in June and September, but I'm just planning a "sunflower-trip" in August as well. After steam at the pass is finished, there is a lot time to be sad about missed opportunities ...
The western part of the Jingpeng Pass: (© Hinrich Brümmer)
The eastern part of the Jingpeng Pass
No changes according to my previous report. We saw the following locos:
| Loco | Service |
Built in
|
| JS 6245 | working |
1983
|
| JS 6544 | working |
1987
|
| JS 8216 | working |
1987 |
| JS 8218 | working |
1987 |
| JS 8249 | cold in the shed |
1987
|
| JS 8250 | fresh painted, cold in the shed |
1987 |
