Experienced 130 days and nights of expedition as well as more than 100,000 miles of voyages, CREC constructors on a mission to the Antarctic returned to Shanghai with Xue Long polar research ship on the evening of March 11th, 2019.

China’s 35th Antarctic scientific expedition team left for the South Pole on a four-month mission on November 2nd, 2018. On board of Xue Long polar research ship, there were also 22 employees from China Railway Construction Engineering Group (CRCEG), a subsidiary of CREC. It was the 16th expedition to Antarctica for CREC constructors. 

“Antarctic Town” built by CREC

CRCEG had been undertaking the maintenance work of Changcheng Station and Zhongshan Station from 2002 to 2007; the large-scale expansion work of the Zhongshan Station from 2007 to 2014; the maintenance and environmental treatment of Zhongshan Station from 2014 to 2016; the task of constructing temporary facilities at the Ross Sea New Station, China’s fifth Antarctic scientific research station, as well as reconstructing and expanding the Zhongshan Station since 2017.

The largest single building in Zhongshan Station---comprehensive research building

In the past 18 years, CRCEG has built more than 20 building units and facilities in Antarctica. A case in point is the Zhongshan Station, a scientific research base with the most complete equipment, the most advanced technology and the largest scale so far in the history of China’s polar scientific research.