Between the mountains, the Han River winds eastward. On the hillside of the south bank, a railway crosses the mountains like a big snake. Above it, a train is slowly traveling westward.

The locomotive roared, spraying thick smoke, dragging the three cars forward. In the first car, the passengers looked at the scenery outside the window, and their excitement was beyond words.

Among them, some were wearing official uniforms, while others were dressed up in their usual clothes, but they held small notebooks and pens in their hands, and wanted to write down what they saw and heard.

The train is driving on the railway, sometimes close to hillsides or steep walls, sometimes crossing gullies. When the train reaches a turning section, passengers can clearly see the railway bridge under the train, and its piers are actually large frames.

Such railway bridges are everywhere along the way, allowing the railway to cross depressions, gullies, mountain streams, and ridges. It does not require holes to be made, but can extend forward along the Hanshui River or cross mountains and ridges.

The passengers holding the notebook are reporters from major newspapers in Jingxiang area. Now they use their pens to write on the notebook from time to time to write down what they see and hear.

They looked at these tall railway bridges, the woods and the gullies moving under their feet, and they felt like they were strolling in the clouds.

The train was driving in advance and passed by some construction sites from time to time. Workers were busy on the construction site, either building bridges with cement piers, building tunnels in the mountains, or splitting the hillside.

The roar of various machines and the occasional thunder broke the tranquility of the mountains. From time to time, frightened birds flew up from the forest and flew into the distance.

In January this year, the imperial court announced the start of the construction of the Xiang (zhou) and Liang (zhou) line, with a construction period of three years. The railway departs from Xiangyang, generally travels west along the Han River, passes through Ankang, Jinzhou, and arrives in Hanzhong, Liangzhou.

It is March now, and the railway from Xiangyang, Xiangzhou to Ankang, Jinzhou has been fully opened. Could it be that the construction team is as helpful as God to repair half of the Xiangliang Line within two months?

Or do you secretly build in advance in exchange for the effect of "the construction progress is as fast as lightning"?

The newspaper reporters in the carriage were full of questions about this, and the official responsible for answering the questions, Niu Tao, the "official spokesperson of the Xiangliang Line Project, gave a very direct answer: "This is the engineering road, not the main line of the Xiangliang Railway."

"As we all came over, we have noticed that this railway has passed through many construction sites, either building bridges, splitting mountains or digging tunnels. There is where the main line of the Xiangliang Railway needs to pass."

"We built this walkway mainly to facilitate the transportation of personnel and materials at construction sites along the route. The train we are taking now is the engineering train to and from construction sites along the route. Although this walkway has been opened to traffic, it is not open to the public."

"So, even if there is a train between Xiangyang and Ankang, it is just a convenient railway that is convenient for construction, so I will naturally not count it."

He said slowly, and the reporters buried their heads in recording.

Officials do not like to ask questions about journalists, but now newspapers are becoming more and more popular, and the court requires local governments to use newspapers as public opinion tools, so they must set up "official spokespersons" and publish "official news" from time to time to spread it with the help of journalists and newspapers.

Now, railway construction has attracted widespread attention, so the railway construction party has to set up an "official spokesperson" to regularly invite reporters to visit the construction site and report on the progress of the project.

The imperial court had limited financial resources and could not build so many railways. It all relied on issuing treasury bonds and establishing a railway company in the form of "official supervision and commercial office" to raise funds to build railways. Therefore, it is necessary to let investors understand the project overview.

The newspaper reporter's "tracking and reporting" of various railways can allow investors to understand the progress of the project, so this way of reporting has been widely praised.

It can not only increase the circulation of newspapers, increase the income of newspapers, but also reassure investors, and also allow ordinary people to watch the fun. It can also show the "open heart" of the government and railway construction parties.

Therefore, the construction party and the competent office will regularly organize newspaper reporters to visit several railways under construction to report on the progress of the project.

After Niu Tao finished speaking, everyone raised their hands and started asking questions.

A reporter asked Niu Tao's permission, "May I ask, it's not easy to build this convenient railway? I noticed that the railway bridges along the line are all iron-framed high bridges. Such bridges are afraid of a lot of iron consumption. So, is it worth it to pay such a cost?"

This question is easy to answer, but Niu Tao doesn't want to say it too complicated and "too professional" to avoid reporters from understanding it, so he answers it in concise sentences as much as possible.

The Xiangliang Line is more than a thousand miles long, and most sections of the road are shuttled between mountains and ridges. Many complex geological structures have to be overcome along the way, so a large number of railway bridges and many tunnels have to be built.

According to the railway construction experience, if a railway is built quickly, it is best to start at the same time from both ends. The problem is that the production of iron in Liangzhou is insufficient, and the same is true for Jinzhou Ankang and other places in the middle. Therefore, the construction of the Xiangliang Line is basically "working alone" on the Xiangzhou side.

Fortunately, Xiangyang, Xiangzhou is convenient for shipping, and the railway tracks and various iron components produced from Daye Iron Manufacturing Station and Wuyang Iron Manufacturing Station will be continuously transported to Xiangyang (Fancheng), so it is completely fine to "long" from Xiangzhou to the west.

However, because this railway has to build a tunnel and there are too many bridges, if it comes one by one, the construction progress will be very slow.

Niu Tao gave an example: there are twenty apples, one person eats, and the speed of this person eating apples is five minutes, so it will take him a hundred minutes to finish eating the apple.

If twenty people eat apples at the same time, each person will eat apples slightly differently. The slowest one is about ten minutes, then everyone will eat these apples for at most ten minutes.

There are two ways, and it is clear at a glance who is faster and who is slower.

Similarly, if a large number of construction teams are invested at the same time to simultaneously construct the main tunnels and bridges in various places, and finally use railways to "connect" the bridges and tunnels, the construction speed of the entire railway will be accelerated.

However, to achieve such a construction method, it is necessary to solve the problems of personnel and material transportation at each construction site. After all, it is not easy to build dirt roads between mountains and ridges, and the road conditions cannot ensure that the carriage can arrive smoothly.

Therefore, the practice of setting up a convenient railway as a construction road was established.

Such convenient railways are set up along the preset route of the main line, crossing gullies and rivers with countless iron bridges, and bypassing steep hillsides. There is basically no need to dig tunnels or pour cement piers, so the construction speed is very fast.

The Xiangliang Line construction party started to build this convenient railway last year. It took only half a year to connect Xiangyang and Ankang.

Then, each construction team entered the predetermined construction site through this railway, opened mountains and built bridges, and the required materials were transported by convenient railways, making personnel exchanges very convenient, greatly speeding up the construction progress.

Now, the convenient railway from Ankang to Hanzhong is under construction, and new construction teams will start construction on the pre-set construction site of the Jin (zhou) Liang (zhou) section, building bridges, splitting mountains and digging tunnels according to the design plan.

The main disadvantage of this construction method is that it consumes a huge amount of iron, but it is not a problem to have full supply from Daye Iron Manufacturing Institute and Wuyang Iron Manufacturing Institute.

Moreover, after the main line is completed, the iron bridge on this convenient railway will be demolished, and the iron material can be refined after the furnace is restored. Even if the loss is taken into account, the total cost is actually not high.

Besides, the railway is completed and opened to traffic as soon as possible (provided to ensure quality), which is the most important thing, and it is worth spending more money on this.

Niu Tao's answer was very concise. The reporters nodded and recorded it. Then someone asked: "This convenient railway is not easy to build. After the main line is completed, can it be kept as a backup line? Isn't it good to have it?"

Niu Tao replied: "This idea is good. However, the iron bridge built with forged iron is rusted very quickly under the wind and sun all year round. Even though the iron bridges are painted to prevent rust, they still cannot withstand the sun and rain. As time goes by, there are great hidden dangers."

"So, if these iron bridges are retained, a large number of components have to be replaced every year and painted continuously, which costs a lot of costs."

"But, as you asked, since such a railway is repaired and demolished, it is a pity, so you have to use another method."

"After gradually changing the iron frame structure piers into cement cast cement piers, if this railway is reborn and can continue to be used. We call this method 'Snake bone replacement'."

"Although the initial investment is larger, it is worth it, because this means that after the main line is repaired, there is a reliable secondary line, which is equivalent to nearly double the capacity, and it is much more convenient to dispatch passenger and freight trains."

"So, after the Xiangliang Line is completed, it will be a double-line railway, with the main line mainly running heavy trucks. The convenient railway after the 'bone replacement' has achieved initial separation of passenger and freight and can serve as a backup railway for the main line."

"'Sky Snake' does not have to repair the main line. The secondary double line can be used to build the line first to ensure it is opened to traffic as soon as possible, and then slowly replace the iron bridge piers with cement bridge piers. This is also a good way."

Niu Tao's explanation is still very concise, and a reporter asked: "Recently, there are rumors that the court has decided to build the Qinling Railway from Beijing to Ankang. So, will this railway be constructed using the Tianser bone replacement method to achieve the opening of traffic as soon as possible?"

There is a trap for this question, and it will be overwhelming if you step on it. The experienced Niu Tao complained deeply, but he answered calmly on his face:
Chapter completed!