Despite the cold weather, subway construction sites across Urumqi are still bustling with activity. In today's 'Spring Festival Visit to the Grassroots', Xinjiang TV reporter Chen Juli takes us into the construction site of Metro Line 1 to meet two young people who have spent the Spring Festival 25 meters underground for two consecutive years.
Near the Xidan Shopping Mall in Urumqi, workers are busy at the construction site of the Railway Bureau Station on Metro Line 1. Pu Yongjun, the project safety director, has been closely monitoring the operation of construction machinery. Pu Yongjun told the reporter: 'We are currently carrying out the second phase of the retaining pile demolition for the No. 3 entrance of the Railway Bureau Station, which means the No. 3 entrance is about to enter the final stage. We are now working to ensure the northern section opens in June, striving for the public to ride the subway in the northern section.'
According to the plan, in June this year, the northern section of Urumqi Metro Line 1 will begin trial operation, with a total length of 16.5 kilometers and 11 stations; by the end of this year, the entire Line 1 will be in trial operation.
Pu Yongjun led the reporter into the underground construction site of Metro Line 1. He said that he and his co-workers have spent two consecutive Spring Festivals at this 25-meter-deep underground site.
Due to the cold weather, even underground, each work site is wrapped with thick door curtains. Pu Yongjun checks the sealing of the curtains in detail at each location, which takes over half an hour per round. After completing all inspections, he spends more than ten hours underground every day. 'By heating the enclosed space, the temperature can be maintained. Without insulation, the masonry quality would be affected, and the seismic requirements would not be met,' Pu Yongjun said.
At the underground construction site, the reporter saw that the subway tunnel has been completed, and the main structure of the station is finished, with pipeline wiring and decoration work underway. Currently, two entrances, No. 3 and No. 4, are still under construction. At the excavation site of the underground passage for the No. 4 entrance, Pu Yongjun met Cheng Zhipeng, the engineer in charge of station decoration and tunnels, who was comparing blueprints to check the tunnel construction quality. If any problem is found, he would immediately halt construction and order rectification.
Cheng Zhipeng said: 'For every square meter we excavate, we must ensure its quality, because it is irreversible. We must ensure a century-lasting project.'
Cheng Zhipeng, a young man from Gansu, and Pu Yongjun, a young man from Shaanxi, both came to the Urumqi subway construction site right after graduating from university. Over the past four years, they have devoted their hearts to subway construction. Pu Yongjun learned he was going to be a father through intermittent cell phone signals underground, and Cheng Zhipeng met his current wife because of the subway construction. Urumqi Metro carries their most beautiful youthful memories.
Due to work needs, both chose to spend the Spring Festival at the construction site this year. Behind their perseverance, the prototype of Urumqi's three-dimensional transportation network—with elevated rings above ground, accessible roads on the surface, and unobstructed underground passage—has taken shape.
In the future, when all 10 rail transit lines planned for Urumqi are completed, there will be about 0.8 kilometers of subway lines per square kilometer in the central urban area, and passengers can find a subway station within about 400 meters.
Pu Yongjun said: 'I won't go home for the Spring Festival this year. There are still many things to do at the project site. The northern section of Line 1 is about to open, and Line 4 has already started construction. We must also ensure the smooth progress of the Line 4 project.'