On April 20, 2024, the construction site of Hejiapu Trans-Rongwu high-speed Bridge in Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province, ushered in a historic moment. With the precise positioning of the first 500-meter-long rail under the traction of the rail laying machine, it marks that the Jidayuan high-speed railway has officially entered the track-laying construction stage.

The Jidayuan high-speed railway, which runs from Wulanqab station in the Inner Mongolia autonomous Region in the north, runs south through Datong City and Shuozhou City in Shanxi Province, and finally connects to Yuanping West Station in Xinzhou City, where it will be integrated into the Daxi high-speed railway, thus achieving seamless connection with the national high-speed rail network. Its construction progress is not only related to the improvement of local traffic, but also an important part of the layout optimization of the national high-speed railway network.

In order to ensure the construction quality and progress, the construction site has put into use advanced rail laying equipment, including 2 sets of rail laying machines, 3 mobile flash welding machines and many large machinery. At peak times, more than 2,000 workers will be working simultaneously, ensuring that a staggering 6 kilometers of track is laid in a single day.

It is worth mentioning that the track laying machine used in the construction is independently developed and designed and manufactured by China, with many advantages such as highly intelligent, accurate cloth pillow, efficient laying and strong curve adaptability. At the same time, the construction team also adopted the most advanced track laying information system in China to realize the information and visualization of track laying operation management, which not only improves the construction efficiency, but also ensures the driving safety of the project line.

Jidayuan high-speed Railway is not only an important traffic artery connecting Inner Mongolia and Shanxi, but also a key component of Huonan Channel of China's eight-vertical and eight-horizontal high-speed railway network. The new length of the entire line is about 270.808 kilometers, of which the Shanxi section occupies nearly 70%, up to about 197.134 kilometers. It is expected that by the end of 2024, the high-speed rail will be ready for operation, which will bring earth-shaking transportation changes to the regions along the route.

The completion and opening of the Jidayuan high-speed railway will greatly shorten the train running time between Hohhot and Taiyuan, from the current 5 hours to less than 2.5 hours. This will not only greatly facilitate personnel exchanges and economic exchanges between the two places and the regions along the route, but also promote cultural exchanges between the regions and promote high-quality economic and social development.Editor/Cheng Liting