Mega HSR project heralds brighter future for nation's rural vitalization

Yang Xiaowu, a villager in Shaoyang, Central China's Hunan province, was jubilant when he saw the 315.69-meter-long Xintangchong Tunnel being fully connected by State builders on Tuesday, marking the fast progress of a high-speed railway being built in the area.

Constructors from China Railway No 4 Engineering Group Co Ltd (CREC4) are helping build the HSR linking Shaoyang and Yongzhou, the last two remaining prefecture-level cities in Hunan that do not have an HSR allowing trains to run 350 kilometers per hour.

"In the past, we had to cross mountains and valleys to find work elsewhere. Our travel will be more convenient. And moreover, with an HSR station being built on our doorstep, many villagers have become temporary workers in constructing the railway," said Yang.

The 96-km Shaoyang-Yongzhou HSR, which began construction on Dec 26, 2023, is part of the 2,300-km Hohhot-Nanning HSR that links Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia autonomous region with Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and is a key part of China's HSR network with eight HSRs running vertically and eight HSRs running horizontally.

The Xintangchong Tunnel, a single tunnel with two railway tracks located in Shaoyang county, has harsh geological conditions with a feature of "shallow burial, soft rocks and high risks", said Yu Xiaolang, a staff member from the CREC4 construction team on the railway project.

In response, the CREC4 builders innovatively applied new technologies such as advanced geological forecasting, monitoring and early warning systems, and laser section scanning to strengthen on-site management and monitoring.

"We simulated seven construction plans using BIM (Building Information Modeling) technology and ultimately chose a composite construction model with controlled blasting as the main method and mechanical excavation as the auxiliary method," said Miao Xuan, chief engineer of the CREC4 Project Department for the HSR.

Miao said CREC4 is in charge of building the No 1 Bid, which extends for 34.233 kilometers, for the Shaoyang-Yongzhou HSR that will have three stations.

Yu noted that upon completion, the Shaoyang-Yongzhou HSR can extend southward through the designated Guangzhou-Qingyuan-Yongzhou HSR that connects Yongzhou with Guangzhou and Qingyuan in South China's Guangdong province, running in a north-south direction.

The railway will then become a vital external channel in central and western regions of Hunan to join the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, he said.

Yang said that in the future, the local residents can sell their products to other regions much faster, and their lives will become more hopeful.