The reporter learned from China Railway 25th Bureau on the 2nd that the Tielu Tunnel and the Kongmu Tunnel, both located in Wuhua County, Meizhou City, recently began excavation at the same time. So far, 43 of the 52 tunnels along the Meizhou-Longchuan Railway have started excavation, accounting for 82.6% of the total. Frontline builders are pushing construction progress at full speed.

The Meizhou-Longchuan Railway is located in Meizhou and Heyuan cities, with a total length of 95.6 kilometers and a construction period of four years. It is the first high-speed railway project with a speed of 350 kilometers per hour to be invested in and built by Guangdong Province itself, and it is also a major project closely linking Meizhou and Heyuan with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It is understood that most areas along the Meizhou-Longchuan Railway pass through lofty mountains and steep ridges, with a bridge-tunnel ratio of more than 80%. The longest tunnel on the entire line, the Xiahuangtian Tunnel, is 7,730 meters long.

The Tielu Tunnel and the Kongmu Tunnel, which began excavation this time, are 274 meters and 435 meters long respectively. The tunnel site areas both belong to denuded hilly areas, and the Kongmu Tunnel has the longest distance from the open-cut section to the portal on the entire line. The plum rain season in June and July in South China has increased the difficulty of construction. To this end, the construction party organized scientifically, planned ahead, paid close attention to process management, and strictly monitored the process to ensure that the two tunnels started excavation smoothly.

Builders celebrate the start of tunnel excavation

Wang Xi, chief engineer of the Second Subsection of Section 4 of the Meizhou-Longchuan Railway under China Railway 25th Bureau, said: "Up to now, 14 tunnels in Section 4 of the Meizhou-Longchuan Railway have started excavation, and 3 have been completed. The remaining 3 tunnels in the section are expected to all start excavation before September this year and are planned to be fully completed by October next year."

It is reported that the Meizhou-Longchuan Railway connects with the existing Meizhou-Shantou High-Speed Railway in the east and with the Ganzhou-Shenzhen High-Speed Railway under construction in the west. It is part of the Guangzhou-Heyuan-Meizhou corridor and the high-speed passenger transport corridor linking eastern Guangdong with central and northern China. After the Meizhou-Longchuan Railway is completed, travel time from Meizhou to Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will be shortened to within 1.5 hours. It is of great significance for accelerating the construction of high-speed railway corridors between the Pearl River Delta and eastern Guangdong and Meizhou and Heyuan, improving the layout of Guangdong Province's high-speed railway network, and promoting regional economic development.