At the 3rd joint conference of mayors of Hohhot-Baotou-Yinchuan-Yulin Economic Zone, Yulin and Baotou, the starting city of Baotou-Haikou High Speed Railway, and Ordos signed the Cooperation Agreement on Promoting the Inclusion of Baotou-Xi'an Special Passenger Line in the National 13th Five-Year Plan and Starting Construction in Advance. This high-speed railway line runs through the whole northern Shaanxi, with the total length of 800 kilometers and the designed speed of 350 kilometers per hour. If it can be completed early, it will greatly promote the economic and social development of the old revolutionary areas in northern Shaanxi. After the spread of the news, many northern Shaanxi people are full of expectations and exclamations. They can't help to think back the history of grazing livestock and decades of difficult railway construction history in northern Shaanxi.
Trains run one after another on the electrified railway lines in northern Shaanxi, with one vertical and two horizontal ones. The blowing of sirens on the train resounds through the mountains, rivers, ditches, hill ridges and slopes. This sound seems to declare to the whole world that although high-speed railway is still a newborn dream for northern Shaanxi, the history of lacking of railway transportation in northern Shaanxi has gone forever.
"Fuxian County Qin Zhi Dao" Tourist-dedicated Train picture of materials
1. The work of herding animals has been done for thousands of years, and the song of herding the flock has been sung for thousands of years, which is a brilliant thing in ancient times but a depressed thing in modern times.
Northern Shaanxi is located in the hinterland of the Loess Plateau. Due to years of erosion by wind and rain and water and soil losses, the roads leading to Inner Mongolia in the north and the roads leading to Ningxia and Gansu in the west in this area were often invaded by yellow sand in large amount. It was hard to travel across these places by mules and horses, and this work could only be undertaken by camels. Therefore, the ancient city of Yulin was also called as "the city of camel". The roads leading to Xi'an in the south and the roads leading to Shanxi in the east of this area were in criss-crossed ravines and gullies. Many places were too dangerous to travel even by donkey and horse carts. People could only directly ride donkeys and horses, going to everywhere with the help of these four-leg animals. It was in such a context that the northern Shaanxi folk song, named as Herding the Flock, was produced and sung for thousands of years.
The extremely primitive transportation method of "herding the flock" is incredible in many young people's eyes. However, it had a significant effect on material circulation and cultural communication in ancient times, leaving an undoubted splendor record in the history. It is because that there was no more advanced traffic tool or means of transportation under the background of the historical environment and road conditions at that time. My hometown is in the suburb of Qingjian County. I still remember the past traffic conditions told by old people to us when I was young. Xi'an, Lanzhou, Baotou, Taiyuan and other cities seemed very far for many people at that time. The trip from Qingjian County to the provincial capital Xi'an had 12 stages. Even there was no interference of wind and rain and no delay, it still took 12 days to finish the trip. On this basis, it can be estimated that the trip between Yan'an and Xi'an takes 9 days, and the trip between Yulin and Xi'an takes 17 days. Burnt by the sun and blown by the wind, regardless of the hardship, it was very common to meet the outcome of losing both life and wealth in case of bandits' robbery or people and livestock falling into the valley and death. However, no matter how dangerous the road was, and how hard the job was, the group of herding flock never disappeared, and the singing of herding flock never stopped. Generations of people have walked and sung for thousands of years.
In modern times, we lagged far behind the era when trains, planes, cars and ships were invented in western countries. Even until 1876, there was still an absurd event that the former government bought the Songhu Railway by 280000 taels silver from British merchants and then spent money to dismantle it and transported it to the seaside and dumped it in the sea. Definitely, the northern Shaanxi at that time was backward. There were few people who once heard about trains, let alone the people who saw or took trains. Therefore, the work and singing of herding flock had to continue, but at that time, they were no longer brilliant, just leaving desolation and resignation.
It was not until the time around the 1930s that the Xianyang-Yulin Highway could barely enough to cross northern Shaanxi. Airports were successively built in Yulin and Yan'an, and there were several cars in these area. However, these cars and planes were too few to be used by military and political departments, much less by common people, who could occasionally have a look at these traffic tools. As for touching, it was an extravagant hope. Anyhow, people finally saw the actual modern traffic tools such as planes and cars. Their doubts about trains gradually disappeared. After watching several movies that contain the fragment of the whistling and travelling of trains and listening to gradually more statements of outsiders, people gradually had a clearer concept of trains and railways, and the expectation of letting trains pass by everyone's doorway appeared. Northern Shaanxi people's dream of railways quietly began.
Railways are bringing greater benefits to the people of northern Shaanxi.
2. The conception of railway construction has lasted for more than half a century, so as the promise of railway construction, but neither of them came true. People once expected, and also disappointed.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the development and construction of the country progressed with each passing day. The transportation industry in northern Shaanxi also underwent earth-shaking changes. At first, each county began to construct highways and buy cars, and then this trend spread to each town. The long-distance transportation teams of herding flock disappeared, and donkey and horse carts were mainly used for short distance transportation. However, the plan about constructing railways and being opened to train service was still unreachable and incredible. If people wanted to travel from Xi'an to northern Shaanxi area, they could only go to Tongchuan by train. Then they had to go to Yan'an by car, took another two days to go to Suide, and reached Yulin after another three days. At that time, the idea of constructing a railway starting from the three places of Yinchuan, Baotou and Taiyuan to northern Shaanxi was just a blueprint in people's minds. When it came to the bare-handed situation of northern Shaanxi and the starvation of people here, the premier Zhou Enlai always shed tears, and ordinary people were also unavoidable to grumble. However, when people thought that our country still had weak foundation and a large population, many regions were even worse than northern Shaanxi, and the limited funds of the country had to be used for food and clothing, they understood that other affairs should be delayed, which reflected more about northern Shaanxi people's trust and understanding of the party and the government.
For adolescent students in northern Shaanxi at that time, the great link-up of national students during the Cultural Revolution at the end of 1966 was a great popularization of taking trains. Most of the students from all junior high schools and above of various cities and counties have gone outside, gone through thick and thin, seen the world and practically experienced the magic power of trains. Constructing railways and setting trains once again became the popular topic of northern Shaanxi people and the important event that people yearn for. The dreams of railways and trains were popularized in everyone's heart. Xi'an-Yan'an Railway was finally built in 1973. People were extremely excited about this. Numerous northern Shaanxi people were eagerly looking forward to the early opening of this railway. However, the railway was built for 21 years. To calculate according to the total length of 333 kilometers, it was constructed for 11 kilometers a year, and the completion date was at the beginning of August 1994. Many old people in northern Shaanxi passed away with the pity of having no chance to see trains running on the land of their hometown. Around 1985, I worked in the party committee of Qingjian County. During this period, I also trained and studied in the party school of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee for two years, so I came and went on this road for at least five or six times a year. Every time I saw sections of wrecked subgrade and pieces of lonely piers, I felt so sad. I asked myself over and over. What happens to this place? At last, I can only console myself explain to confused people with the answer that our people have just filled their bellies and our country has just reformed and opened up.
In the late 1980s, the railway dream of people in northern Shaanxi reached a climax. Not only the common people, but also the local governments were anxious for this affair. The two regions of Yan'an and Yulin successively set up county level railway offices in their government agencies. Everything needed, such as staffing, personnel and expenditure, was ready. The office was specially responsible for coordinating to solve problems met in the process of railway construction, and trying hard to assist the railway construction. If this work was done in the 1950s and 1960s, the touching scene of an extensive mobilization and the whole people's participation of on-site work should appear. In the case of cadres' salaries couldn't even be paid in full and on time in Yulin, the government called for donations of cadres for the construction of Shenmu-Yan'an Railway. Although people had firm resolution and great enthusiasm at that time, it is said that the total amount of the donation couldn't afford 2 kilometers railway construction cost, so the donation activity had to be ended with no outcome. Today, the events may be ridiculous, but they reflect a certain period of history and bear the expectations and dreams of cadres and masses in northern Shaanxi for railways and trains.
3. During the 30 years reform and opening up, northern Shaanxi people's railway dream has gradually come true. It is hoped that northern Shaanxi people's high-speed railway dream can also come true during the "13th Five-Year Plan".
The section between Baotou and Shenmu of the Baotou-Xi'an Railway is the first railway that enters the boundary line of northern Shaanxi. Its construction started in August 1986, and ended in April 1989 when trains could travel to Daliuta, Shenmu County through this line. The Premier of the State Council of the day, Li Peng, came to attend the opening ceremony. Although this long railway, with a total length of more than 170 kilometers, has a section of merely 17.5 kilometers in northern Shaanxi, it ends the history of no railways and no trains in northern Shaanxi, which has great significance and influence.
The section between Xi'an and Yan'an of Baotou-Xi'an Railway is the second railway entering northern Shaanxi, which was built in 1973 and finally completed in 1994 due to frequent interruptions in the construction process. Although its construction process is long and tortuous, making people wait anxiously, the section with 258 kilometers of its total length, 333 kilometers, is in northern Shaanxi, and it directly reaches the revolutionary holy land, Yan'an. Together with its advantages in two aspects of passenger and freight transport (Baotou-Shenmu Railway takes coal transport as the main business), the railway has profounder significance and influence.
After the Baotou-Shenmu Railway and the Xi'an-Yan'an Railway were opened to traffic, one of them starts from the north and the other from the south to lead to the hinterland of northern Shaanxi. When to connect these two railways and form a main traffic artery has been a popular issue for people. The construction of Shenmu-Yan'an Railway started in May 1998 and thoroughly ended in April 2001. The railway was formally delivered and put into operation. The whole line includes 385 kilometers, 52 kilometers longer than the Xi'an-Yan'an Railway, while its construction period is shorter than a quarter of that of the Xi'an-Yan'an Railway. Following the completion of Baotou-Xi'an Railway's construction, the project of the double track railway construction also finished in 2010, whose transport capacity, transport speed and transport quality were all greatly improved, and northern Shaanxi people were very happy about this.
In the period of the Great Western Development, the railway construction in northern Shaanxi can be truly summarized as: obtain what I dream, gain what I want, attain what I hope. Given that the Baotou-Xi'an Railway connects the north and south, will there be a railway connecting the east and the west? As Expected, the Shenmu-Shuozhou Railway crosses the two counties of Shenmu and Fugu, reaching Shuozhou of Shanxi and leading to North China and Northeast China. It was opened in July 1996, and the construction of the double track railway was finished in 2004. What made northern Shaanxi people more delighted is that the Taiyuan-Zhongwei-Yinchuan Railway, whose construction started in February 2006 and ended in January 2011, traverses six counties of Dingbian, Jingbian, Hengshan, Zizhou, Suide and Wubao for more than 360 kilometers from west to east, reaches Taiyuan, Shanxi, and leads to eastern coastal provinces. Since then, the main framework of northern Shaanxi, with one vertical and two horizontal lines, is formed. The north, south, east and west parts of it connect with the railway network of the whole country.
At present, 16 of 25 counties and districts in Yan'an and Yulin in northern Shaanxi have railways and trains. 5.78 million people on 80,000 square kilometers of land have more than 1,100 kilometers of railway lines. Besides, there are also more than 30 special lines, with the length of over 200 kilometers. The railways bear about 80% of freight transport and about 30% of passenger transport of the two cities. After Yan'an and Xi'an having the shuttling bullet train service, it will take two hours to travel between the two places. After Yulin and Xi'an having the shuttling Z-series train service, in contrast to the transportation of herding flock or driving cars, this transportation method is totally different from any perspective. The safe, convenient, low-cost and high-quality services of railway are increasingly recognized by passengers and welcomed by ordinary people. It is more unexpected that in Fugu County, the coal mine railway special line from Gucheng to Miaogoumen invested and constructed with private funds was approved by the country in 2010 and completed in 2012. It was built according to the first-class standard of state-owned railways, connecting three major industry concentration areas, with a total length of 42 kilometers of its main line. It is the longest local coal mine special railway at present.
From 1973 until now, especially in the recent ten years, the railways in northern Shaanxi have developed to a great extent. The era of high-speed railway has come. Northern Shaanxi people's dream of high-speed railway also becomes clearer. They eagerly hope the construction of high-speed railway can start and bring temperature and speed to the land that made great contributions to the Chinese revolution. (By Hui Shixin, Special Contributor of Shaanxi Daily)