Apocalypse Rebirth: 3000 million won at the beginning

Chapter 2204 Emergency Repairs!
DS-1 train.

After finishing his call with Xie Fei, the station chief at point eight, Xiao Hu immediately contacted Wei Chuan, the train driver:
“The track that the No. 8 garrison is responsible for has a broken rail problem. Reduce the train speed and give them an extra hour.”

Wei Chuan, who was staring at the dashboard, was startled by what he heard:
"Train conductor, how could these perfectly good rails suddenly break?!"

Wei Chuan had worked as a train driver for many years before the apocalypse, so he had some understanding of train tracks.

Generally speaking, rails will not break unless there is human damage, natural disasters, or roadbed collapse.

Furthermore, a train car has a carrying capacity of 60 tons and a tare weight of 18-24 tons, with 4 pairs of wheels. This means each wheel position can carry 84 ÷ 8 = 10.5 tons.
Trains can generally travel across the rails without any problems.

Upon hearing Wei Chuan's question, Xiao Hu replied somewhat impatiently:

"I don't know the specifics either. According to Xie Fei, the station chief of the No. 8 outpost, it may be due to the sharp drop in temperature, coupled with the trampling of a large number of zombies."

"Just slow down and buy them more time!"

Wei Chuan still had a lot of questions in his mind, but since Xiao Hu had already said so, he was too embarrassed to ask any more.

"Yes, conductor."

He then gradually reduced the train speed from 80 kilometers per hour to 55 kilometers per hour.

the other side.

Station No. 8.

Duan Lin and drone operator Shen Lin stared at the back end of the drone's screen.

This drone is a military-grade drone, with a range more than ten times that of civilian drones.

Due to the heavy fog, the drone could not fly too fast and could only fly along the track at a height of three meters above it.

The drone is equipped with infrared thermal imaging, which can roughly distinguish the orbit and the surrounding environment.

Ten minutes later.

The drone flew to a bend in the railway track. Duan Lin compared the drone's location with the location where the overall track pressure value was abnormal, and confirmed that it was at this spot.

However, the infrared thermal imaging alone is insufficient to clearly show the specific condition of the railway tracks.

So Duan Lin said to Shen Lin:

"Throw two flares down."

"it is good."

Tap~ Tap~
Shen Lin remotely controlled the drone and launched two pre-prepared flares.

呲味味~
Illumination flares emit a bright light. These military illumination flares are special munitions that produce intense light by burning metal or chemical substances, and are mainly used for illumination in nighttime combat.

After two flares were fired, the condition of the railway tracks ahead became clear:
This spot was located on a curved section of the railway track. At the most curved section, the roadbed was deformed, and the specific condition of the rails was not clearly visible.

Hundreds of zombies were walking on the steel rails.

Because there is a straight road next to the curved section of the track, less than 10 meters away.

There was a landslide ahead on that road, which is why these zombies are coming up from there.

Hoho~
A giant zombie spotted the flare on the ground and darted over.

It had just picked up the flare when it quickly tossed it aside because the flare was burning.

Hearing the commotion, the other zombies rushed over and quickly surrounded the flare.

The drone was immediately out of sight as the flares surrounded it.

Shen Lin asked hesitantly:

"Engineer Duan, should we throw two more flares?"

Their drone only carried four flares, and they've already used two of them.

After thinking for a moment, Duan Lin stared at the screen in the drone and said:
"Raise the drone and drop it from the air. I want to see how many zombies are down there."

"Row."

Shen Lin then flew the drone to a height of thirty meters and then dropped the flare.

The flare slowly descended through the sea fog, and as it fell, they were able to get a general view of their surroundings.

At the bend in the malfunctioning rail, hundreds of zombies were swarming.

Ten meters away on the road, a group of zombies were rushing towards them.

Clearly, the section of the broken rail had become a frequent route for zombies.

Seeing this situation, Duan Lin originally wanted Shen Lin to fly the drone down to take a closer look at the problematic rails.

However, during its descent, a high-jumping zombie nearly snatched the drone down.

Shen Lin reacted quickly and pulled the drone up, preventing it from crashing.

These are military-grade drones in limited numbers; the entire camphor tree has only a limited number of them.

Each outpost is equipped with only one of these drones; the others are civilian-grade drones.

Very valuable.

The flares gradually went out, and they had no more left.

"It's alright, fly the drone back." Duan Lin patted his shoulder, then frowned and walked downstairs.

First floor of Post No. 8.

Xie Fei was wearing a new generation of combat protective clothing, with two pistols tucked into his waistband, and was loading tungsten steel alloy bullets into the magazine.

Seeing Duan Lin come down from upstairs, Xie Fei stood up and asked:

"How's it going? How's the rails?"

Duan Lin shook his head and replied:
"The situation is not optimistic. I think that rail needs to be replaced, and a large number of zombies have indeed been found over there, including some King Kong zombies."

"Those zombies all came from the road next to it. The problematic rail happened to be on a bend in the road, and the rails on such sections are subject to greater stress than those on straight sections."

"Damn, how many zombies are there?" Xie Fei's expression changed as he asked.

"There should be several hundred, too many to count," Duan Lin sighed.

Just as Xie Fei was about to speak, the communications officer, Xiao Song, suddenly took off his headset and shouted at them:

"Station Master, Engineer Duan, the headquarters wants to speak with us."

Xie Fei and Duan Lin exchanged a glance and hurriedly ran over.

Xie Fei took the headset, but after listening to one sentence, he handed it to Duan Lin.

“The experts at headquarters provide us with technical support. I don’t understand the technical stuff very well, so you can talk to them.”

Duan Lin took the headset, and a middle-aged man's voice came from the other end.

"Hello, I am Shan Zimo, the director of the Dazhangshu Rail Transit Maintenance Bureau. Please tell me more about the situation there."

Upon hearing that it was Shan Zimo, Duan Lin's expression turned serious.

This person is the one who personally oversaw the repair work on multiple tracks in the camphor tree area.

"Okay, Director Shan, let me give you a brief overview of the situation."

After listening to Duan Lin's report, Shan Zimo fell into deep thought.

"Duan Lin, the deformation and breakage of the rails cannot be caused by the zombies trampling on them."

“When we were building the railway, we had already experienced a drought that lasted for a year.”

Roadbeds built during droughts may not be compacted properly due to the dry and loose soil.

Although we have already taken some measures.

However, even after prolonged exposure to sea fog, moisture still seeps into the roadbed, softening the originally stable soil structure.

Although the rails themselves are corrosion-resistant, a sudden drop in temperature will cause the temperature of both the rails and the roadbed to drop rapidly and simultaneously.
The shrinkage of the rails generated tensile stress, while the softened roadbed subsided slightly under the trampling of zombies, causing the rails to experience localized stress exceeding their limits.

Duan Lin listened intently on the other end of the radio, his expression extremely serious.
"You're right! That's certainly possible!"

Shan Zimo spoke very quickly and continued:
"At the same time, during droughts, the rails may develop tiny thermal expansion cracks due to exposure to the sun."

The moisture from the sea fog condenses into ice at low temperatures. This ice seeps into cracks, expands in volume, further widening the gaps, and finally breaks under the combined stress of being stepped on.

"When you flew your drone over there just now, did you see any ice formation over there?"

Duan Lin recalled the scene of the drone flying by, and there was indeed a reflection when the flare shone there.

It must be that the rail section is icy.

He quickly replied, "Yes, that location happens to be in a low-lying section of the road, and it's also a bend in the road. There should be some water accumulated there. As for ice, I think I did see it."

"Now I know why the rails had problems," Shan Zimo said with a sigh of relief.
"It's located on a curved section of road, so the stress is relatively high."

"Moreover, the soil of tracks built during droughts cannot be fully compacted, and the roadbed is more prone to deformation under the lateral or longitudinal forces of slopes and curves after being soaked by sea fog."

In addition, the low temperatures make the rails brittle, making them prone to breakage at stress concentration points in the deformed roadbed and rails when zombies trample them.

Duan Lin asked anxiously:

"Director Shan, what should we do now? The solution I've come up with is to quickly repair the depressions in the filler and then directly spread it out, which should allow it to harden quickly."

Then, inject quick-setting polymer into the gaps in the roadbed, and place thick steel plates under the rails to distribute the pressure.

"no!"

Shan Zimo directly rejected Duan Lin's idea, saying:

"Your method can only last for three days, or even less. It is only suitable for short-term use."

Duan Lin rolled his eyes and retorted:
"Director Shan, in two more hours..."

He had only been talking for two hours when Xie Fei, who was next to him, quickly corrected him by making a three-pointed hand gesture.

"I've spoken to Xiao Hu, and he can give us another hour."

After seeing his actions, Duan Lin corrected himself and continued:

"Director Shan, we only have three hours left. In three hours, the DS-1 train will pass through this section. Unless we stop the train, we can't replace the rails."

"If we need to replace the rails and renovate the foundation, it will take at least two days. We don't have enough time."

Shan Zimo asked:
"Were all the steel rails, which are over ten meters long, deformed? How long is the deformed section of the roadbed?"

Duan Lin carefully recalled the scene he had just witnessed and replied:
"I couldn't see it clearly, there was just a dent, but I don't know exactly how long it is."

Shan Zimo has extensive experience with this type of roadbed deformation. He said:
"I encountered a similar situation when I was in charge of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway track."

"You don't need to dig up the soil under the entire rail; you only need to dig up the area within one to two meters where the deformation is most severe."

No need to touch the other undeformed areas.

"Just do as I say:"
First, dig the depression to a depth of 60 centimeters, fill it with large stones as a base, then fill the middle with gravel and dry soil and compact it, and then pour a layer of quick-setting concrete. It will solidify to a certain strength within 2 hours.

Second, drive several steel piles into the ground on both sides of the rail, and use steel cables to tighten the rail and the piles to offset the lateral and longitudinal stresses.

Third, a layer of waterproof tarpaulin is laid on the concrete surface to prevent sea fog and moisture from further seeping into the roadbed.

"If we calculate it this way, we only need to dig out a one or two-meter area of ​​the core deformation. Four or five people can quickly dig it out with shovels and it can be done in 20 minutes. Filling it with stones and rubble and compacting it will also only take 20 minutes."

Pouring the quick-setting concrete takes 20 minutes, and the remaining time is spent fixing the steel piles and rails; two hours is more than enough.

“If you do it the way I said, the rails can last for more than 6 months.”

After listening to Shan Zimo's opinion, Duan Lin's eyes lit up, and he felt a surge of admiration.

As expected of Director Shan.

The proposed solution is probably the most appropriate one at present.

To completely repair this section of the roadbed and rails, they would have to spend two days there.

With such dense fog and rampant zombies, they simply didn't have enough time to repair themselves, and every minute they spent outside increased their danger.

"Okay, I understand. Thank you, Director Shan. I'll go make the arrangements now."

“Okay, feel free to ask me any questions,” Shan Zimo said.

"it is good."

After putting down the radio headset, Duan Lin immediately ordered people to quickly prepare the materials for the plan that Shan Zimo had just mentioned.

After all, this is a base station, essentially set up to handle situations such as track problems or train emergencies.

Therefore, the station also prepared the necessary materials for track repair.

ten minutes later.

Materials for repairing the tracks were loaded onto the repair truck.

Duan Lin also put on his combat uniform. He checked the materials he needed to carry in the vehicle and found nothing missing.

He jumped out of the car.

"Stationmaster, all the materials are ready. We can set off now."

"Okay, get in the car!" Xie Fei knew that time was tight, and they only had three hours and thirty minutes left.

It will take two hours to repair the track, and it will take them another twenty minutes to get there.

Although at first glance they seemed to have plenty of time, they only flew over the problematic rails with a drone to take a quick look, without examining them very closely.

If the problem is more complicated than they anticipate, they will take longer.

Therefore, time is very important!
Xie Fei boarded an armored combat vehicle, and after getting in, he made a gesture to Liang Che.

Liang Che raised his hand in response, indicating that he would take care of things here.

The driver drove the car to a door.

Rumble~
The door burst open—

Behind the door is a partitioned space, and in front of it is another door.

This space is somewhat similar to the airlock of a space station, serving as an area connecting the outside world and the interior.

The two cars drove into the partitioned space, and Liang Che quickly closed the door inside.

Click~
At this moment, Xie Fei and his group are in this partitioned space, separated from the residential area behind it.

This was also to prevent zombies from running in when the hatch is opened.

Liang Che looked at the two cars through the security camera in the partitioned area, then picked up the walkie-talkie and said:

"Stationmaster, are you ready?"

"Ready? Open the door."

After hearing Xie Fei's words, Liang Che pressed the green button again.

Rumble~
The outermost gate suddenly opened.

Almost the instant the machine was turned on, zombies that had been lurking around slipped in.

After the gate opened, Xie Fei and his group ignored the two zombies.
All the lights in the car were turned on, and the partition area instantly became extremely bright. The vehicle started and drove outside.

The armored combat vehicle is equipped with infrared thermal imaging and night vision devices, so even in heavy fog, it can still roughly see the road conditions ahead.

Roar roar~
Several zombies saw a car drive out and immediately climbed onto it.

They frantically pounded on the bulletproof glass and doors of the car.

But Xie Fei completely ignored the zombies and said to the driver:
"Drive, follow the tracks!"

"Yes!"

the other side.

After Xie Fei and the others left the gate, Liang Che immediately pressed the gate button.

Kakakaka~
The gate moves downwards.

Finally, with a thud, it shut off completely.

Seeing the gate close, Liang Che quickly shouted to the men stationed there:

"Xiaosong, you guys take care of those zombies that came in."

"Okay." Xiaosong and the others immediately got up, grabbed guns from the corner of the wall, and ran straight to the second floor.

In the partitioned area, they specially installed eight firing ports, smaller on the outside and larger on the inside.

You can see the zombies inside the partitioned area from every angle.

With the seven-centimeter firing port, they could shoot the zombies without opening the second security door, ensuring their own safety.

After explaining all this, Liang Che was no longer worried about the zombies that had entered the partitioned area.

He was more worried about whether Xie Fei and the others would be able to return safely this time.

Looking at the cameras outside the outpost, he could only see two hazy lights in Xie Fei's area due to the heavy fog.

Moreover, the two lights were getting farther and farther away from them.