On the morning of February 24, excavation of the main tunnel bore at the Xingshan exit of Changgangling Tunnel began, marking that the key project of the Yixing Connecting Line entering the Xingshan gateway has officially entered the construction stage.

The Xingshan section of the Yixing Connecting Line is 38.38 kilometers long, with construction tasks covering "four tunnels and four bridges" across a total of 15 working faces. It is another 350 km/h high-speed railway that intersects with the Xingshan section of the Zhengzhou-Wanzhou High-Speed Railway. It starts from Yichang East Station, passes through Huangbai River and Wudu River Xiabaoping in Yiling District, enters Xingshan County, and then connects to Xingshan Station of the Zhengzhou-Wanzhou High-Speed Railway. Changgangling Tunnel is located at the junction of Yiling District and Xingshan County, with a total length of 13,751 m. It is a single-tube double-track tunnel, with its entrance at Shanmuling in Xiabaoping Township, Yiling District, and its exit at Nanduihe Village, Shuiyuesi Town, Xingshan.

Charging and blasting. At 11:08 a.m. that day, following a loud blast, the construction site became busy. Two large operation trolleys entered and exited alternately, and construction personnel began work.

Standing at the site, a winding and rugged construction access road is faintly visible amid the greenery, and the supporting parallel adit and emergency passage are being excavated simultaneously. It is understood that the terrain along the tunnel body and at the tunnel site fluctuates greatly, the construction site at the portal is narrow, and the task of building construction access roads is relatively heavy. In August 2020, the construction unit began building the access road, and on the sixth day of the first lunar month in 2021, construction preparations began at the main tunnel portal. At present, among the 6 working faces, the entrance and exit working faces are already under simultaneous construction.

The control works and major difficult works of the Yixing Connecting Line are "three tunnels and two bridges," of which Xingshan County accounts for "two tunnels and one bridge." "Although the tunnel is dominated by Class II and Class III hazardous rock, construction will use large-machine supporting technologies such as three-boom rock drilling jumbos, so there are no problems with construction technology or the schedule," said Su Tao, the project chief engineer, with confidence.

It is reported that Changgangling Tunnel will be holed through by the end of 2023, and the Yixing Connecting Line will open to traffic across the entire line in 2025. Once completed, the project will further expand the radiation range of the Western Hubei Eco-Cultural Tourism Circle and Hubei Province's "One River, Two Mountains," and will help promote the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.