Behind the Changchun-Ulanhot railway

An inter-city railway linking Changchun of NE China's Jilin province and Ulanhot in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region opened on Aug 8, a result of the dedication of railway construction workers.

Electricity is vital for CRH trains and power facilities are a basic part of railway construction.

Power facility construction workers, with an average age of 55, work high above the ground. [Photo/cnjiwang.com]

To guarantee power supply, workers at Changchun Electric Power built 221 towers and installed 144.06-kilometers of wire in 166 days.

They also completed re-construction of the trunk line electrification five months ahead of schedule.

The construction of power facilities spanned three seasons.

The burning sunshine and heavy rain in summer and the freezing conditions of winter were challenging for high-altitude operations especially when workers were digging holes and laying concrete foundations.

Meanwhile, in the spring and fall, when crops grow and are harvested, workers needed to be careful not to let the wires fall to the ground.

Workers need to be careful not to allow the wires to fall on crops. [Photo/cnjiwang.com]

The average age of the power workers is 55. They have rich experience but severe weather and machine errors because of high frequency operations still brought difficulties.

Sometimes, to complete the project on time, they learned how to repair their imported devices and bought the necessary components.

The power facility workers took several innovative steps such as setting wires with unmanned crafts.

They also used electric generators to produce heat, which reduced costs during construction.