As the year draws to a close, China Railway 12th Bureau Group, which wins the market with efficient, high-standard, high-quality, safe and civilized construction, has once again delivered an "on-time answer sheet." On the night of December 21, in the bitter cold of minus 19 degrees Celsius, the builders of the Zhongchuan Airport Loop Line project fought for six hours and, at 4:30 a.m. on the 22nd, successfully completed the final station renovation construction at Lanzhou New Area Station.

The construction was classified as Level II, with a track slewing length of 85 meters and a maximum lateral shift of 5 meters; 1.6 track-kilometers of overhead contact system wires were erected and adjusted, and 1.8 track-kilometers were dismantled; one set of No. 12 turnout was inserted for signaling, together with closure-point slewing, indoor and outdoor wiring modification, and interlocking and train control testing. The capacity expansion and renovation of Lanzhou New Area Station is the largest-scale renovation with the longest construction period since the Zhongchuan Intercity Railway was opened to traffic in 2015.

Construction site (photo by Zhang Yongcheng)

Lanzhou New Area Station is located in Yongdeng County, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, at an altitude of nearly 2,000 meters. This blockade construction involved many procedures, extensive machinery coordination, numerous personnel working in cross operations, great difficulty in construction organization, and high safety risks. To complete the construction task safely, with high quality and efficiently, the Zhongchuan Airport Loop Line Railway Project Department planned in advance, refined the construction steps, and reasonably divided the construction tasks. It implemented the safety and quality responsibility system, refined the division of responsibilities, ensured that responsibilities were assigned to each person, and guaranteed that all work proceeded in an orderly manner. During construction, the participating personnel for track slewing, turnout insertion, and overhead contact system and signaling renovation carried out construction methodically according to the assigned tasks, and completed the track slewing and the four-electric engineering works within the specified time. At this point, the supporting project introducing the newly built Lanzhou-Zhangye No. 3 and No. 4 Railway Lanzhou-Wuwei section and the newly built Zhongchuan Airport Loop Line Railway into the Lanzhou hub successfully completed the capacity expansion and renovation construction and opening task for the railway operating line, providing a guarantee for subsequent line operation and opening to traffic.

In the future, the Zhongchuan Intercity Railway, the Yinchuan-Lanzhou High-Speed Railway, as well as the newly built Lanzhou-Zhangye No. 3 and No. 4 Railway Lanzhou-Wuwei section and the newly built Zhongchuan Airport Loop Line Railway will converge here. Once all the newly built railway projects are opened to traffic, railway passengers and air passengers will be able to achieve rapid transfers and seamless connections, further strengthening exchanges between the Hexi region and Baiyin, Lanzhou and the Longdong region, promoting interconnection between the eastern and western wings of Gansu Province, and boosting regional economic development and cultural prosperity.