As chief engineer of the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway project and technical lead for survey and design of the Harbin-Dalian Passenger Dedicated Line, Fan Jianguo led the research and formulation of a series of key technologies, including high-speed intercity railway standards, route alignment schemes, ballastless track forms, regional land subsidence control, and solutions to the extreme low temperatures, frost heave and other challenges that must be addressed when building high-speed railways in severe cold regions. He also served as head of research for major projects of the former Ministry of Railways, such as "Research on Complete Civil Engineering Technology for the Beijing-Tianjin High-Speed Intercity Railway," "Comprehensive Technical Research on Foundation Engineering for the Harbin-Dalian Railway Passenger Dedicated Line," and "Research on the Adaptability of Chinese Railway Technical Standards in Iran and Turkey."

　　In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the design of high-speed railways, intercity railways and heavy-haul railways and to the development and application of new technologies, Fan Jianguo has received the First Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards for National Excellent Survey and Design, the National Excellent Engineering Consulting Achievement Award and many other honors. No one would have expected that such a well-known expert in China's railway survey and design field, each time he faced a technical challenge, did not treat it as a difficult problem but as an opportunity to surpass himself.

　　Devoting Himself Wholeheartedly to Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Survey and Design

　　During the interview, Fan Jianguo told reporters that the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway, which has been in formal operation for five years, not only achieves a 30-minute journey from Beijing to Tianjin, shortening the distance in time and space between the two cities, but also serves as a demonstration for building China's high-speed railway technical standards system.

　　Fan Jianguo recalled: "During the survey and design of the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway, the technical personnel involved gathered in Langfang, Hebei Province, for nearly two months of closed-door design work. All staff members vied to work overtime not only on normal working days but also on holidays. One Chinese New Year's Eve we worked until 7 p.m., and only when we got home did we remember that we should have bought a string of firecrackers to set off that night. Despite such hard work, no one ever complained."

　　"At that time, high-speed railways in Germany and Japan operated at 300 km/h and in France at 320 km/h, but China's Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway was to reach an operating speed of 350 km/h, a world first. To achieve this, the first requirement was to ensure the smoothness of high-speed trains running on the track." Fan Jianguo said, "To reach this speed, we developed ballastless track technology, a precision control measurement system and a series of related technologies. Generally, tracks for trains operating at 250 km/h or below are mostly laid with ballasted track, while tracks for high-speed trains must be laid with ballastless track."

　　Fan Jianguo explained that compared with other countries, China has more passengers riding high-speed railway trains. According to statistics, the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway alone carries 70,000 passengers a day and operates nearly 100 pairs of trains. Such a large passenger flow and number of train pairs easily cause wear on the track, so the cost of maintaining and servicing ballasted track would be considerable, while laying ballastless track is superior to ballasted track in both construction and maintenance costs and safety. The Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway is 120 kilometers long in total; apart from the two stations in Beijing and Tianjin, the ballastless track is laid over a length of 114 kilometers.

　　The Beijing-Tianjin Intercity High-Speed Railway uses Type II slab ballastless track. In this type of ballastless track, the track slots are ground by numerically controlled machine tools, and the track is then precisely laid on the pre-set alignment to ensure accuracy and smoothness under high-speed operation, so it embodies a high level of technology and innovation.

　　Pooling Wisdom to Solve the Severe Cold Challenges of the Harbin-Dalian Passenger Dedicated Line

　　One month after the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway opened, Fan Jianguo quickly threw himself into the survey and design work of the Harbin-Dalian Passenger Dedicated Line and served as technical lead. To ensure high-speed operation of the Harbin-Dalian Passenger Dedicated Line in the severe cold climate of Northeast China, where winter temperatures reach minus 30 to 40 degrees Celsius, Fan Jianguo led his team in researching and solving technical challenges involving subgrades, ballastless track, bridges, tunnels, groundwater erosion and the passage of girder transport vehicles in severe cold regions.

　　"To achieve smooth operation of high-speed trains in severe cold regions, the first problem to solve is frost heave. Even under normal climate conditions, to keep high-speed trains running smoothly, the track laying height difference must not exceed 10 millimeters over a 150-meter range, let alone in cold regions like Northeast China, where the technical requirements for track laying are even higher." Fan Jianguo said, "Through surveys, we found that the frozen soil depth in Northeast China in winter reaches at least 100 to 300 centimeters, and solving the frozen soil problem requires technological breakthroughs in three aspects: reducing groundwater erosion of the soil, ensuring soil temperature, and replacing original soil with special materials."

　　In solving the frozen soil problem, he first determined the subgrade structure for high-speed railways in severe cold regions, that is, using non-frost-heaving soil for the subgrade bed, and designing insulation berms on some sections to ensure soil temperature. Second, a large number of engineering tests were carried out before construction, and construction according to the previously developed plan was permitted only after the test results reached the standard values. "To solve the frozen soil problem, we designed a targeted drainage system to seal off groundwater that could easily seep into the soil and to discharge the small amount of water that does seep into the soil from underground through the drainage system. To ensure smooth drainage, we first added a sealing layer on the subgrade surface and then used the drainage system to effectively discharge the small amount of water that seeped into the underground layer. To achieve the expected drainage effect, when designing the alignment we deliberately avoided areas prone to water accumulation." Fan Jianguo explained.

　　Facing Work and Life with Optimism

　　Fan Jianguo told reporters that whether he was leading the survey and design work for the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway, the Harbin-Dalian Railway, or the Shijiazhuang-Zhengzhou, Beijing-Shenyang and other passenger dedicated lines, he never treated each technical challenge as a difficult problem but instead organized research into ways to solve technical difficulties with a positive attitude, so that technology could serve the project. In life, he always maintains an optimistic attitude. When resting, he practices Tai Chi, reads novels, and was once an avid online gamer; these are all ways for him to balance work and life.

　　"My favorite online game is Warring States. Because while playing Warring States, I can learn how to cultivate people's willpower and character, and it also helps inspire me on how to manage a team well. Not only that, I also like reading bestselling novels in my spare time. When the TV series Drawing Sword was being broadcast, I even bought the novel of the same name and read it carefully. To this day, Drawing Sword remains one of my favorite novels." As the interview was drawing to a close, Fan Jianguo told reporters humorously.