Between the vast grasslands in western Tanzania and the rolling hills in Burundi, a steel dragon is extending to the hinterland of East Africa. With the official finalization of a $9 million central laboratory contract by China Railway Northwest Scientific Research Institute, a subsidiary of China Railway Group, this standard gauge railway connecting the two countries and connecting mining areas has welcomed a quality guardian belonging to China's testing industry.

Cross border railway full line quality inspection

China Railway Northwest Design&Research Institute will be responsible for the full life cycle test and detection of the Tanzania Burundi Standard Gauge Railway Lot 7 and Lot 8 with a total length of 240km. As the overall quality inspection department of the entire line, its business covers the full process monitoring of raw materials such as cement and steel bars entering the site, as well as the compaction degree of the roadbed and the physical quality of bridges and tunnels. It will establish a unified testing database to ensure that this flagship project worth 2.154 billion US dollars meets high standard quality requirements.

Nickel ore going abroad to reduce costs and increase efficiency

The seventh and eighth sections are a crucial link in connecting the inland and the ocean. The line is from Uwenza, Tanzania to Musongati nickel mine area, Burundi, with a total length of 240 kilometers and a construction period of 72 months. After the opening of the railway, Burundi's rich nickel resources will no longer rely solely on road transportation, and the logistics cost is expected to reduce by more than 40%, greatly improving the efficiency and economic vitality of inland countries in East Africa.

Testing standards go abroad

This winning bid marks a leap in China's railway inspection technology from subcontracting participation to general contracting responsibility. China Railway Northwest Institute will rely on more than 60 years of technological accumulation to promote the implementation of Chinese railway inspection standards in East Africa during project execution. This is not only an important puzzle for China's infrastructure industry chain to go global, but also provides a replicable quality control model for the subsequent construction of regional railway networks.Editor/Gao Xue