This is Weixin County, Yunnan, but people prefer to call it Zhaxi. In February 1935, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held consecutive meetings here, known as the "Zhaxi Meeting," which provided practical guidance and deployment for realizing the strategic shift in the Long March, and was in fact the continuation and final completion of the Zunyi Meeting. Eighty years later, the sky of Yunnan, the landforms of Guizhou, the cuisine of Sichuan, together with that deep red impression, blend to form the unique geographical and cultural reality of this mountainous area where "a rooster's crow is heard in three provinces."

　　"These are big mountains, with bridges on the mountains, bridges and tunnels connected, trains running on the bridges, birds flying in the sky..." On July 20, in the backyard of the No. 2 Sub-division of China Railway First Group's Chengdu-Guiyang Railway Section 10, the reporter saw staff family members enjoying a brief yet precious family time with their children after lunch. With one adding a stroke and another making a smear, five or six children drew a landscape on a board, with a railway winding through the mountains—this is the children's purest impression of the railway and the work their fathers do. These strokes also brought us into the majestic memory of building a high-speed railway in the deep Wumeng Mountains.

　　One Bridge and Four Tunnels: Perilous and Thrilling at Every Step

　　The Chengdu-Guiyang Railway Section 10 project (managed by the Fourth Company) passes through Weixin County and Zhenxiong County in Yunnan Province, with a total length of 26.65 kilometers. It includes 1.4 kilometers of subgrade, 14 bridges, 8.5 tunnels, and 1 station (Weixin Station). Construction started on January 1, 2014, and is scheduled for completion on April 30, 2018, with a total contract value of 2.2126 billion yuan.

　　The key, difficult, and controlling works of Section 10 are the "one bridge and four tunnels": Xiangba River Grand Bridge (the highest pier on the entire line at 107 meters, constructed with continuous steel structure large-span beams), Xiaba Tunnel, Wenge Tunnel, Dadiakan No. 1 Tunnel (three high-gas tunnels), and Yaojiaping Tunnel (one low-gas tunnel).

　　Driving from the headquarters (in Weixin County town) to the various sub-division construction sites, the mountain roads wind up and down with many sharp turns, making travel quite difficult, and drivers need to honk to alert each other. If encountering a large vehicle, the already narrow mountain road immediately becomes blocked. The co-driver has to get out and direct, with both sides inching past each other. Sometimes traffic jams last one to two hours.

　　After nearly two hours of driving, not knowing how many mountain ridges we had passed, the view suddenly opened up: between two mountains, several thick, tall piers rose from the ground, holding up white clouds above and leaning on flowing water below, standing majestically between heaven and earth—this is the Xiangba River Grand Bridge.

　　Li Jianfeng, chief engineer of the Third Sub-division, told us that the Xiangba River Bridge is 652.2 meters long, with main piers of 107 meters and 106 meters, the highest on the entire Chengdu-Guiyang Railway. The bridge piers are constructed on slopes of 35 to 60 degrees. The existing Yangzha Road was only 3.5 meters wide, insufficient for large construction vehicles. To reach the main pier work area, it took half a year to carve out access roads along the mountain, creating 7.6 kilometers of 5.5-meter-wide roads to meet construction needs.

　　"From pile foundations, caps, pier shafts to large-span continuous beam construction, our optimization of schemes has never stopped," introduced Zhang Weiyuan, manager of the Third Sub-division.

　　It is understood that according to different construction parts at different times, the project reviewed and optimized each construction scheme one by one. The "Mass Concrete Construction Scheme" for pouring 3,500 cubic meters of concrete at one time for the cap optimized the cooling water pipes from two inlets and two outlets to four inlets and four outlets, increasing water flow speed to facilitate cooling and protect the quality of the engineering entity; improved the pier shaft formwork configuration scheme, statistically determining the number of formworks, turnover times, and combination forms according to the schedule, enhancing material interchangeability between bridges and saving 890,000 yuan in costs; optimized the internal work platform, reducing steel pipe usage and improving safety.

　　On both banks of the Xiangba River, vegetation is lush; this beautiful landscape has not withered due to the arrival of the high-speed railway. To protect the ecological environment, the project planted grass on slopes, totaling over 7,000 square meters.

　　The Fourth Sub-division in Zhenxiong County is the farthest from the headquarters, constructed by the Fifth Company. In the words of sub-division manager Ming Xiaowei, this place has "difficult roads, water, and electricity." However, compared to the harsh living environment, the high-gas tunnel is the real difficulty and danger the project faces.

　　Dadiakan No. 1 Tunnel is a high-gas tunnel, and coal seams appeared at 320 meters of excavation, requiring extreme caution during construction.

　　Ming Xiaowei said that to help employees correctly understand gas, the sub-division did its homework by studying regulations and inviting experts. During construction, "three in place" ensures safety production:

　　First, monitoring in place: combining manual monitoring and automatic detection to make gas "visible and tangible"; second, equipment explosion-proof modification in place: upgrading and modifying electrical and mechanical equipment to eliminate hidden dangers; third, management in place: dedicated personnel responsible for access control systems and electrical equipment, with full-time supervision during hot work.

　　The project department refined the internal high-gas management system and strictly implemented various requirements, such as access control systems, personnel positioning systems, automatic gas monitoring systems, and equipment explosion-proof modifications. At the same time, it signed four technical service agreements with the Chongqing Coal Science Research Institute to assist the project department in controlling safety risks of high-gas tunnels.

　　The most difficult cross-tunnel work area of the project undertakes the construction of 3,127 meters of high-gas, shallow cover, water-rich zones, reverse slope drainage, and karst in the Wenge Tunnel. According to Qin Yongsheng, captain of the work team, the cross tunnel has entered the main tunnel construction and created two working faces, laying a solid foundation for rapid excavation of the high-gas tunnel.

　　The First Sub-division faces the most complex problems in construction, including stations, tunnels, subgrades, bridges, and culverts—all without exception. Sub-division manager Ye Pengyong said: "Compared to construction difficulty, construction organization is a greater test for us."

　　The subgrade pile-slab wall at Weixin Station is a highlight: 806 meters long with 204 piles, all completed, and its craftsmanship has been recognized by the owner.

　　Seven New Techniques: Practical and Precise in Every Way

　　"Creating new techniques is not for display or for awards, but to effectively improve labor efficiency. A new technique that workers find inconvenient is a failed new technique," said Li Wengang, manager of the Second Sub-division.

　　Since entering the site, Section 10 of the Chengdu-Guiyang Railway has earnestly implemented the construction policy of "high starting point, high standard management, high efficiency advancement" and the management requirements of "high, precise, strict, detailed, and practical" of the Chengdu-Guiyang Railway Company. To further improve the quality of tunnel and bridge construction, eliminate common quality problems, and reduce defects, the project department broke away from previous construction equipment, techniques, and equipment, and promoted the use of seven new techniques within the project section. Inside the Wenge Tunnel in Dashan Village, Zhaxi Town, from the tunnel entrance all the way to the working face, the reporter witnessed and recorded these "seven martial arts."

　　"Practicality is the king," and since the design and promotion of new techniques, the project has adhered to the principle of "high versatility and easy to use." The invert arc formwork and end formwork construction effectively ensure the quality of invert concrete; the semi-automated waterproof board installation platform increases the installation width of the waterproof board and ensures slackness, saving labor; the ultrasonic welding technology for waterproof boards ensures welding quality; the fixed buried waterstop in the secondary lining end formwork ensures the quality of secondary lining concrete and the integrity of the waterstop; the hot-melt welding technology for waterstops ensures welding quality and flexible operation; the mobile formwork construction technique for tunnel ditches and cable trenches effectively improves labor efficiency; the water pressure blasting technique for tunnel excavation fully utilizes blasting energy and greatly reduces dust pollution to the environment.

　　Zhang Guoli, chairman, general manager, and party secretary of Chengdu-Guiyang Railway Co., Ltd., led a team to hold two on-site observation meetings and promoted them across the entire line.

　　Wild Eight-Character Management Philosophy: Everyone Diligent, Results Everywhere

　　The project management department of China Railway First Group's Chengdu-Guiyang Railway Section 10 is stationed in Weixin County, a county nestled in the embrace of the Wumeng Mountains. Upon entering the headquarters building, a brightly colored "Chengdu-Guiyang Star" display board stands out, with photos of outstanding workers for each quarter and their personal profiles. The project has reached this stage today truly through everyone's dedication.

　　Jiang Changli, executive deputy manager of the project and deputy general manager of the Fourth Company, used eight characters to explain the core philosophy of the management department: management, supervision, service, coordination. Jiang Changli said, "The management department plays a leading role in project management, incorporating safety, quality, schedule, and cost. The management goals of the Chengdu-Guiyang project can be summarized in three sentences: zero accidents in safety and quality, no loss in responsibility cost, and maintaining top three in credit evaluation."

　　Liu Xiaorong, chief engineer of the project management department and manager in charge of construction technology, set a 28-character management approach for himself: sound framework, complete systems, standardized procedures, optimized schemes, process control, strengthened training, and achieving profits.

　　Liu Xiaorong introduced: The project department implements leadership on-duty and level-by-level safety and quality responsibility for key processes to ensure that each process is organized and constructed strictly according to techniques and methods. The project compiled the "Chengdu-Guiyang Railway Construction Operation Key Points Cards" and distributed them to each sub-division, ensuring that management personnel at all levels have a copy to understand the requirements of each process at any time and implement them at the operational level. The project compiled the "Tunnel Geological Description Manual" based on construction drawings, compiling the geological conditions and advanced geological prediction methods of each tunnel into a book, providing management personnel with a copy to grasp the design geological conditions at any time.

　　To ensure tunnel construction safety, the project management department regards tunnel construction monitoring and measurement as a necessary condition and key process for safe tunnel construction, taking the lead in introducing and promoting the "Tunnel and Underground Engineering Construction Monitoring Information System" software of China Railway Southwest Research Institute, organizing technical backbone to operate the tunnel collapse prevention monitoring and measurement information system, collecting data on time according to technical specifications, and strictly controlling each tunnel. The project particularly highlights gas tunnel management, organizing personnel to compile the "12 Management Systems for Gas Tunnels in Chengdu-Guiyang Section 10," organizing well-known domestic experts to optimize and review ventilation schemes, risk assessments, and trackless conversion schemes multiple times, with on-site personnel and equipment in place, and inviting experts for full staff training multiple times, so that the gas risk sources of the project are fully controlled.

　　Since the start of construction, the project department has achieved good results. Among 21 units of the Chengdu-Guiyang Railway and Chengdu-Chongqing Passenger Dedicated Line (including the Chongqing Hub Project of the Chongqing-Guizhou Railway on behalf of construction), credit evaluations achieved two firsts and one second; this year, in the Chengdu-Guiyang Company and Bijie Command sections, it won first place in continuous monthly evaluations five times; many people from the project department received the title of Advanced Pacesetter in the Chengdu-Guiyang Company.

　　In February this year, the All-China Federation of Railway Trade Unions awarded the Locomotive Trophy to 59 advanced collectives and the Locomotive Medal to 492 advanced individuals who made outstanding contributions to railway construction in 2014. The Chengdu-Guiyang Railway Project Department of China Railway First Group was awarded the Locomotive Trophy, and Jiang Changli, executive deputy manager of the Chengdu-Guiyang Railway Project Department, was awarded the Locomotive Medal. The Chengdu-Guiyang Railway Project Department of China Railway First Group is the only unit among the 16 participating units in the entire Chengdu-Guiyang Railway to receive this honor.