A hundred years ago, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, which ran through the Yanshan Mountains to the northwest of Beijing, was the first trunk railway that was independently designed and constructed by the Chinese. The completion of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is not only the pride of China's railways, but also greatly boosted the national self-confidence of the Chinese people. Recently, the interview group "Discover the most beautiful railway, pursue the heart of the first century" took the world's first intelligent high-speed railway-Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway to Badaling Great Wall Station and Qinglong Bridge Station to experience the development and changes of China's railways.

Escalator of Badaling Great Wall Station Master

As one of the important stations along the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, Badaling Great Wall Station is a medium-sized passenger station. The station type is an underground station. The longest passenger elevator is 84 meters in length and 42 meters in height. It is the largest high-speed railway in China. After exiting the station, it is found that walking about 300 meters is the entrance of the Badaling Great Wall Walking Entrance, and walking about 200 meters to the right is the entrance of the Badaling Great Wall Ropeway. You can reach the Great Wall Museum, Dome Cinema, Zhan Tianyou Memorial Hall, etc. within 15 minutes of walking. Many attractions, very convenient.

Qinglongqiao Railway Station

Qinglong Bridge Station, built in 1908, is located at the foot of the Badaling Great Wall in the depths of Yanshan Mountain in Beijing. It is famous all over the world for the "Zigzag" railway built by Mr. Zhan Tianyou. It is an important part of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. It has witnessed the century-old development and historical changes of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway and is of great significance in the history of Chinese railways.

In 2013, all the original buildings including the station were included in the seventh national list of key cultural relics under protection by the State Council. As a patriotic education base and an industrial heritage, Qinglongqiao Station has collected cultural relics related to the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway from various periods, and there is an endless stream of tourists who come to "check in".

Thirty-nine years ago, the current head of Qinglongqiao Station, Yang Cunxin, took over the baton to guard Qinglongqiao Station from his father. Today, he is both the head of Qinglongqiao Station and the propagator of the spirit of "a century of Beijing Zhang".

Yang Cunxin displays ramp cards and Lizhi cards

As China's first railway designed, constructed, and managed entirely on its own, the numbers on the early signs of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway were written using the traditional Chinese number "Suzhou Code", which has distinctive characteristics of the times. It shows that the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway not only relied on China's own engineers, but also used China's own counting method.

Nowadays, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway passes through the underground center of Qinglongqiao Station, forming a "big" character with the "human" shape of the old Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. The two Beijing-Zhangjiakou railway lines, the new and the old, have achieved a "handshake" that spans a century at Qinglongqiao Station. "As an old railway employee, I can feel the development of railways every day. The development of railways is inseparable from the advancement of science and technology in our country. I am very proud to witness all this." Yang Cunxin said with emotion.

More than a hundred years ago, China's first trunk railway, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, which was explored and designed by the Chinese people, was completed and opened to traffic; more than one hundred years later, the world's first intelligent high-speed rail line, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway, was put into operation. What has changed is the national strength and speed, and what has not changed is the national spirit of the Chinese nation for self-improvement. From self-built railways to leading the "world's best", the century-old Jingzhang has written the legend of China's railways and the entire Chinese nation's self-improvement and struggle. Editor/He Yuting