AleadingengineerlooksbackonWuhan-Guangzhouhigh-speedrailcorridor’sfirstdecade
ByZHAORUIXUE and LIUKUN
X
uKeliangisaman
ofmediumheight
and tanned skin and
wears glasses like
manyothersinChina.
What distinguishes him is his work
asaleadingdesignerofthecountry’s
most complex high-speed corridor.
SittinginhisofficeinWuhan,Cen-
tralChina’sHubeiprovince,theengi-
neer said he has taken on challenges
without ever a thought of giving up.
“Building a high-speed railway in
Chinawasmydream.Andnomatter
how hard it got, I knew it would be
my life’s pursuit,” said Xu, 58.
His dream turned into reality by
the end of 2 00 9, when the high-
speed railway connecting Wuhan
and Guangzhou, SouthChina’s
Guangdong province, was put into
service. The Wu-Guang (Wuhan-
Guangzhou) line stretching 1, 0 68.6
kilometers over plains and hills saw
trains running at 35 0 km/h, which
cut travel time between the two
provincial capitals by more than six
hours.
China’s latest high-speed trains
betweenBeijing and Shanghai usu-
ally run at speeds of up to 38 0 km/h.
The achievements of the Wu-
Guang high-speed network were
backed by hard work and persis-
tence represented by Xu and his
team a decade ago.
“I was amazed by the news of the
late leader Deng Xiaoping traveling
in Japan during a visit on the Shink-
ansen bullet train in the late 197 0 s.
Atthetime,trainsinChina could
only run at speeds of a few dozen
kilometers an hour,” said Xu, now
deputy chief engineer of aChinese
railway survey and design institute.
After Xu graduated fromChang-
sha RailwayCollege in Hunan prov-
ince in 1982, he worked as a tech-
nician in a company in Wuhan. He
then took part in surveys and design
work on several railway projects,
including the high-speed railway
link betweenBeijing and Shanghai.
In2 00 3,Xuwasappointedthelead
designeroftheWu-Guanghigh-speed
railway. The project was questioned
by foreign counterparts in the begin-
ning, mainly because the construc-
tion environment was difficult — the
linehadtobelaidonadiverseterrain.
“We had to rely on ourselves and
make breakthroughs in core tech-
nologies,” said Xu.Heonceledover4 0 teamstowork
on different aspects of the project
such as bases, bridges, tunnels, con-
trol system, communication links
and the maintenance system.
In order to test sets of data, the
teams sometimes worked for days
without rest. The endeavor was
stressful but satisfying.
Over 95 percent of the Wu-Guang
railway tracks are welded together
without ballast, because of the ter-
rain conditions. The bases of these
tracks are made of concrete and
attached to concrete beds, which
make the high-speed trains run
smoothly and cost less in mainte-
nance.
The application of advanced tech-
nology in the Wu-Guang high-speedrailway created new records, said
Xu.Inoneexample,abridgewith an
arch span of 14 0 meters was among
the longest such bridges built with-
out ballast tracks at that time.
In theChangsha section of the
railway,theteamsdroppedtheorigi-
nal plan for a 1 0 -km viaduct because
that would have required the demo-
lition of a very large residential area.
Instead they successfully designed
a tunnel below the Liuyang River,
makingthisChina’sfirstunderwater
segment of the high-speed railway.
For Xu, there were many difficul-
ties to be fixed in the task. He said
when hecouldn’tfall asleep atnight,
hewoulddrivehiscaralongtheDon-
ghu Lake in Wuhan for inspiration.
Alumbar disc protrusion hesuffered shows how hard he had
worked back then.
“He has endured great pain from
theprotrusioninrecentyears.Some-
times he needed our help to walk
into a room. If it was so painful that
he couldn’t sit down, he would lean
on the desk to check the design
paper,” said Guo Jianhu, 56, one of
Xu’s co-workers on the Wu-Guang
railway project.
Such efforts paid off.
“The high-speed railway inChina
is amazing. The trains run fast and
smoothly, saving me travel time,”
saidBen Lor, aChinese-American
who makes multiple trips each year
by such trains.
In the past 1 0 years, Xu has con-
tinued to work hard on the high-
speed railway network. To date, he
has taken part in the design of more
than 2 0 high-speed railway projects.
“Now high-speed railways are
built through valleys, deserts and
highaltitudes in the country. Our
technologies are now among the
world’s leading ones,” said Xu.
China now has the world’s longest
high-speed railway network, cov-
ering 29, 000 km, and perhaps the
most modern.
Xu has witnessed this develop-
ment firsthand.But he owes a lot to
his family.
“During those years of working
on the Wu-Guang high-speed rail-
way, I spent more than 2 00 days a
year at the construction sites,” he
said. “My wife shouldered most of
the responsibility of our family. She
is very supportive.”Contactthewritersat
[email protected]WITNESSOFCHANGE
LatinAmericancountryistakingstepstotapChina’sboomingoutboundtravelsector
BUENOSAIRES — If the way to
a man’s heart is through his stom-
ach, then maybe the same applies
toChina’s growing number of globe-
trotters.
Argentina is banking on the old
adage to attract moreChinese tour-
ists, and the strategy is part of the
Hilton Huanying program that
derives from theChinese word “wel-
come”.
Theprogramisbackedbyresearch
that revealed the preferences of
today’sChinese travelers, including
starting the day with a traditional
breakfast featuring rice congee,
steamed buns, shrimp dumplings
and hard-boiledeggs, amongothers.
The program is an initiative
already in place at more than 15 0
Hiltonhotelsaroundtheworld,but
relatively new to the property in
Argentina’scapital,BuenosAires,the
first LatinAmerican city to offer it.
“We are very proud to be part of
the Hilton Huanying program here
inBuenosAires,” said MarianoCan-
nello, director of sales and market-
ing at HiltonBuenosAires.
“Weseeitasagreatopportunityto
welcomeChinese travelers with the
standardsofpersonalizedservicewe
know they expect and enjoy,”Can-
nello added.
According to the hotel, after the
program was launched, bookings by
Chinesetouristsrose16 0 percentper
night compared to last year, with an
average stay byChinese tourists of
2.15 nights.Gonzalo Tordini, head of educa-
tional affairs at the LatinAmerican
Center onChinese Political and
Economic Studies, saidArgentina
is keen to tap intoChina’s booming
outbound tourism to help its flag-
ging domestic economy.
“Tourists generate benefits for the
countries they visit, being an impor-
tant source of services’ exports,” said
Tordini.
“In 2 0 18, 15 0 millionChinese trav-
eled abroad as a result of the spec-
tacular rise of the middle class. They
seek to learn about other cultures,
contemplate new landscapes and
have enriching experiences,” Tordini
added.
BuenosAires is an attractive des-
tination forChinese travelers givenits culture, cuisine and passion for
soccer.But the country offers a wide
varietyofsights,suchasPatagoniato
the south, a region characterized by
the beauty of its glaciers, lakes and
mountains.
“Argentina has great potential for
receivingChinese tourists. Patago-
nia, in particular, offers conditions
that may be of great interest toChi-
nese visitors,” said Tordini, whose
center signed a cooperation agree-
ment with Ente PatagoniaArgen-
tina last year to promoteChinese
tourism.
“With impressive landscapes,
excellent infrastructure, diverse
adventure activities and a hospi-
table population, Patagonia expects
to attract travelers from literally theothersideoftheworld,”saidTordini.
Argentina is also taking other
steps to boost tourism fromChina,
includingeasingthevisaapplication
process and working to improve air
connectivity.
AccordingtodatafromtheArgen-
tine Ministry of Tourism, between
20 11 and 2 0 17 the arrivals ofChi-
nese tourists toArgentina increased
steadily, reaching around 6 0 , 000.
In2 0 17,1 0 -yearvisaswereissuedto
Chinese citizens traveling toArgen-
tinafortourismorbusinesspurposes.
InAugust 2 0 18,C andhile Argen-
tina announced an agreement for
the reciprocal recognition of visas
forChinese tourists, starting Janu-
ary 2 0 19.
XINHUAArgentinaenhancesChinesewelcome
Ahigh-speedtrain oftheWuhan-Guangzhou lineruns inQingyuan,Guangdongprovince.Theline
stretches1,068.6 kilometers overplainsandhills.LIANGMUSHUI/FORCHINADAILY26 LIFE August 9-15, 2019 CHINA DAILY GLOBALWEEKLY