From Anti-Japanese War Railway to Modern High-speed Railway Line Change, Witness the Great Changes of Guizhou-Guangxi Grand Passage in the Past Hundred Years.
New Guizhou-Guangxi line after electrification transformation. Yan wenyuan photo
Nanning, September 23 rd, Zhongxin. com: From the Anti-Japanese War Railway to the Modern High-speed Railway Line, we witnessed the great changes in the Guizhou-Guangxi Grand Passage in the past century.
Author Mo Yujie
"When the boat arrives, the horse will die, and people will be swaying." When it comes to traffic in Guangxi and Guizhou, there has been a folk song since ancient times. Nowadays, the natural barrier in Guizhou and Guangxi has become a thoroughfare.
From the initial anti-Japanese war railway, to the new Guizhou-Guangxi railway, and now to the Guiyang-Nanning high-speed railway under construction, three railway lines have changed and upgraded over two centuries, witnessing the great changes of the Guizhou-Guangxi Grand Passage in the past century.
Guizhou-Guangxi Railway is an exhibition of all countries.
Walking along the winding road between the mountains and the peaks, I finally came to the side ridge township of Jinchengjiang District, Hechi City, Guangxi Province, where the side ridge railway station of the old Guizhou-Guangxi Railway is located. Who would have thought that more than 80 years ago, the war was raging here, and the first party group in the history of Guangxi railway-the CPC Guizhou-Guangxi Railway Side Ridge Group was born.
During the period of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in 1939, China decided to build the Guizhou-Guangxi Railway in order to open the international channel connecting the southwest rear area with Southeast Asia and transport the military materials from all countries in the world to the front line.
It can be said that since its birth, this railway has been branded with the red mark of resisting foreign enemies. During the construction, the Japanese invaders dispatched planes almost every day to indiscriminately bomb the railway and cities and villages along the line. More than 5,200 migrant workers died in the line of duty, more than 30% were sick, and tens of thousands died.
In 1944, the 471 km section of Guizhou-Guangxi Railway from Liuzhou, Guangxi to Qingtaipo, Duyun, Guizhou was completed and opened to traffic. In poor and weak old China, materials were in short supply, and the rails and accessories for the construction of Guizhou-Guangxi Railway were all collected by retreating from various roads. Some people said it was an "exhibition of products of all countries".
In May 1949, the side ridge group of Guizhou-Guangxi Railway was established. After planning by the party group, the party’s secret peripheral organization, the Sideling Branch of the Hunan-Guangxi-Guizhou Railway Staff Liberation Federation (referred to as the "Xielian"), was subsequently established. In order to protect the railway and welcome the people’s liberation army to the south, the AFDL established the Red Guards of the workers on the side ridge of the Hunan-Guangxi-Guizhou railway, which defeated the armed rampage of the reactionary authorities in Nandan County. Later, party member and Wang Xichun, the captain of the Red Guards, died gloriously in the battle to help the People’s Liberation Army panic in the remnants of Kuomintang reactionaries.
Years don’t live, smoke goes away. In today’s Sideling Township, brand-new cement houses have sprung up, and cement roads extend in all directions, and the people live and work in peace and contentment. Pan Lei, the owner of "Station Store", told reporters that there was only one store nearby before, and the business was very hot. "Now there are three shops in the village below, there are more shops on the street, and fewer and fewer people come here to buy things." Pan Lei said.
One more and one less is the epitome that local materials are getting richer and richer, which can meet people’s needs for a better life more and more.
Present situation of Huilong Road on Lao-Qian-Gui line. Yan wenyuan photo
Bring together the best of the four national railways
In Laiyi Village, Nandan County, Guangxi, the sunset glow sprinkled on the No.9 tunnel of Yaozhai on the old Guizhou-Guangxi Railway, as if opening a just visiting. "This is the Layi Huilong Road, which is known as the’ China Railway’." Returning to his hometown, Liang Zengren, the 54-year-old Party branch secretary of Jin Chengjiang Line Workshop in Liuzhou Works Section, was filled with emotion.
In 1993, Liang Zengren came to the work area of Layi Line to be responsible for the maintenance of this railway. Viewed from a height, although the rails of the Laoqian-Guiyang Railway have been removed, the subgrade is still there, and the line slowly climbs from the foot of the mountain along the mountainside, where it turns into a U-shaped bend. Because the head and tail echo each other in one place, it is called "Huilong Road".
"Huilong Road" is a vivid portrayal of "seven turns, eight bends, nine turns and ten climbs" on the Guizhou-Guangxi line. On January 7, 1959, the entire Guizhou-Guangxi Railway was opened to traffic. According to experts’ determination, this is an "equal outside line" that cannot be included in the grade. Take the 151km line between Jin Chengjiang and Mawei as an example, which is the best of the four national railways: the most curves, the shortest straight line between curves, the largest traction gradient and the most dangerous rock peaks along the line.
Keep the train running smoothly with blood and life
In Liujia Town, Jinchengjiang District, Mo Hanjiang, an 84-year-old retired employee of the former Liujia Works Section, is familiar with this. The Lao-Qian-Gui line goes north from Jin Chengjiang, and after passing Liujia, it enters the "4 most" section, which is known as "geological museum". 266 towering dangerous rock peaks clamp the thin railway in the gap at the bottom of the mountain.
Mo Hanjiang, who entered the dangerous stone class at the age of 20, and his workmates climbed the cliff and pushed the wall, and checked the stones one by one. When encountering dangerous stones that threatened driving safety, they hung in the air with safety ropes, and smashed them with hammers and removed them. "In 1983, Yang Biao, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of our section, and an employee were unfortunately hit by stones during the rescue and died on the spot." Mo Hanjiang said.
Road maintenance workers on the Guizhou-Guangxi line not only use sweat, but also use blood and life to ensure the smooth passage of passing trains.
On January 9, 2009, the reconstruction project of Guizhou-Guangxi Railway was completed, and the label of "waiting outside line" was removed in one fell swoop, becoming a national I-class electrified line. The reconstructed Xin-Qian-Gui line has a total length of 489 kilometers, which is 119 kilometers shorter than the original line. The train traction quota was increased from 1,200 tons to 3,800 tons, and the running time of passenger trains from Liuzhou to Guiyang was shortened from 14 hours to 5 hours.
"After the transformation, the old line from Liujia via Bagong and Sideling to Nandan is no longer used, and the new line has 96 dangerous stones." Liang Zengren introduced that the scientific and technological means to prevent dangerous stones have been significantly improved. There are both unmanned aerial vehicles and dangerous rock falling alarm systems to monitor dangerous stones 24 hours a day.
Ten minutes’ drive from Jin Chengjiang City, Hechi City, there is a long-term guarding point of flood control level I on the Guizhou-Guangxi line K163+290km, and the railway is sandwiched between two stone mountains. On the railway subgrade in front of the guard point, there are more than a dozen big black boxes. "This is the alarm system for dangerous rocks and falling rocks, which can fan-scan the range of 17.5 meters on both sides. If there is a foreign body, it will automatically alarm within 15 seconds, and inform the dispatching command center, the nearby train driver and the station to take preventive measures." Chen Li, squad leader of Jin Chengjiang Road and Bridge Dangerous Stone Work Area in Liuzhou Works Section, said.
The 28-year-old boy from Baoji, Shaanxi Province, came to Guizhou-Guangxi Railway to investigate dangerous stones before 2016. Although there are advanced scientific and technological means to deal with dangerous stones, he and the workers in the work area never slackened off. Like the "predecessor" Mo Hanjiang, they still climbed the cliff and climbed the wall with safety ropes, and covered the dangerous stones at the I-level guard point one by one every month to eliminate hidden dangers in the first time. Through the vicissitudes of a century, the persistence and persistence of the railway workers on the Guizhou-Guangxi line have always been the same.
Guinan high-speed railway under construction in Du ‘an section of Guangxi. Photo by Jiang Xuelin
Modern high-speed rail helps Guizhou and Guangxi to speed up and shift gears.
There are abundant resources along the Guizhou-Guangxi railway, among which the indium metal reserves in Guangxi are among the highest in the world, the lead-zinc metal reserves rank second in the country, and there are extremely rich limestone; Guizhou’s coal reserves are second to none in southwest China.
Before the opening of Nanning-Kunming Railway at the end of 1997, Guizhou-Guangxi Railway was the only large sea passage in southwest China, and it was also the main way to transport bulk goods such as coal and metal mines. "In the past rush hour, Jin Chengjiang could load more than 1,000 cars a day, and Nandan could also load more than 700 cars." Tang Yingxiang, deputy director of Jin Chengjiang Business Office of Liuzhou Freight Center, said.
Guizhou-Guangxi line is not only the lifeline of enterprise transportation, but also the "happiness line" of people along the line.
In the early morning of August 15th, Wei Yuyao, a passenger from Lapotun, Daguo Village, Jinchengjiang District, Hechi City, took the 5540 train to Liuzhou at Jinchengjiang Railway Station, and then transferred to Nanning’s son-in-law’s house. She takes this bus almost once a month.
In the early 1990s, Wei Yuyao traveled by train for the first time to attend his brother’s wedding in Liuzhou. "At that time, the ticket was only a few dollars, and there were many people in the car. Many vendors took carts and took the train to Liuzhou Flying Goose Wholesale Market to purchase goods, and went in the morning and returned at night." Wei Yuyao said that later, her two daughters also went to Liuzhou to study by train and walked out of the mountains.
On December 29, 2016, the first section of Guinan high-speed railway officially started construction; In December 2017, the construction of the whole line was officially rolled out in an all-round way, with a design speed of 350 km/h. It is a high-speed railway connecting Guiyang City of Guizhou Province and Nanning City of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in China. After a hundred years of chasing the wind and dreaming, the Guizhou-Guangxi Grand Passage will speed up the shift and start again.
At present, the Guangxi Railway Department is vigorously promoting the construction of Guinan high-speed railway. The progress of projects in front of tunnels, bridges and culverts and subgrade in Guangxi has exceeded 80% in an all-round way. It is expected that the track and station building construction will start in the fourth quarter of this year. After the opening of this railway, the transit time from Nanning to Guiyang will be shortened to more than two hours. (End)
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