At 9:48 on August 25, outside Yongling Town in Xinbin Manchu Autonomous County, Fushun City, a huge blast broke the early-autumn tranquility of the mountains.

The sound came from the Xinbin Tunnel of the Shenyang-Baihe High-Speed Railway under construction below the hillside. After the blast hazard was cleared, at the 4,500-meter point inside the tunnel, an excavator extended its long bucket and worked up and down, and the last meter of rock was then broken through, with a ray of light bursting out through the dust.

"The Xinbin Tunnel of the Shenyang-Baihe High-Speed Railway is through!" At 9:58, Wang Yongzhu, project manager of China Railway 19th Bureau Group, announced the good news in a loud voice. Instantly, huge cheers and lively music rang out together, shaking the valley.

For this moment, the builders of the Shenyang-Baihe High-Speed Railway had waited and fought for 875 days.

The Xinbin Tunnel, with a total length of 10.2 kilometers, is the first high-risk tunnel and a key controlling project of the entire Shenyang-Baihe High-Speed Railway, and also the longest tunnel in the Liaoning section of the line. It is located in the remaining branches of the Changbai Mountains, where the terrain rises and falls greatly, the groundwater system channels are relatively abundant, and there are many faults and shallow cover sections, making the geological conditions complex. For the builders, the project is highly difficult to construct, carries high safety risks, and faces enormous pressure to be completed on schedule.

"Pressure is also motivation. We joined forces with the participating construction units to set up a research group, repeatedly invited well-known tunnel experts to provide on-site guidance and verification in complex and difficult sections, and adopted many targeted measures, ensuring the smooth progress of construction and the quality of the project." said Wang Jiang, Party branch secretary of the Fushun Command of the Beijing-Harbin High-Speed Railway Co., Ltd.

Completing the task with high quality made the frontline employees of the participating units beam with joy. China Railway 19th Bureau Group is the contractor for the Xinbin Tunnel. In front of the display board at the tunnel entrance, Wang Zhe, the project chief engineer, proudly explained the key and difficult construction tasks: "During construction, a number of innovative methods were used to achieve advance forecasting, and measurement methods such as 3D cross-section scanning were used to collect changes in the rock layers around the tunnel in real time; in order to reduce the impact on the surrounding environment, sewage was discharged only after being purified to standards throughout the construction process."

"Everyone's efforts were not in vain; we have not let the people of Liaoning down!" Wang Zhe's high-profile "declaration" drew another round of applause from his colleagues.

The main line of the Shenyang-Baihe High-Speed Railway starts from Shenyang North Station, passes through seven cities including Shenyang and Fushun along the way, and ends at Changbaishan Station in Jilin Province, with a total length of 430 kilometers. After completion and opening to traffic, Liaoning will achieve high-speed rail access in every city. "Up to now, 23 tunnels have been holed through in the Liaoning section, and 65% of the total project volume has been completed. With the smooth holing-through of the Xinbin Tunnel, the project will successively enter the track slab laying stage across the entire line," Wang Jiang said.