On December 16, 2021, by the overall survey and design of the First Railway Institute, the construction of the Lanzhou-Hezuo Railway with the participation of China Railway Construction Bridge Group, China Railway 18th Bureau Group, China Railway 20th Bureau Group, and China Railway Construction Electrification Bureau Group started construction .

Lanhe Railway

The route starts from Xigu District, Lanzhou City, passes southward through Yongjing County, Dongxiang County, Linxia City in Linxia Prefecture, and Xiahe County, Gannan Prefecture to Hezuo City. The estimated total investment of the project is 22.9 billion yuan. Designed in accordance with the national railway level I, double line, 200 km/h standard, and reserved 250 km/h speed increase, the total length of the line is 183 kilometers, of which the newly-built main line is 147 kilometers long. There are Tanggaang, Shuangcheng and Linxia in total. , Liujiaxia and Xigucheng (existing stations) 5 stations, the construction period is 6 years.

According to Xie Xinfu, chief designer of Lanhe Railway and deputy chief engineer of Lanzhou Institute of the First Railway Institute, the bridge-tunnel ratio of the whole line is 78%, passing through the transition zone between the Loess Plateau and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, facing high ground stress, debris flow, harmful gases, seismic liquefaction, and reservoirs. Outstanding geological problems such as bank collapse; at the same time, the route passes through the Yellow River basin. There are many natural environmental protection goals along the route, and the responsibility for ecological protection is heavy. Adhering to the concept of “Environmental Protection Priority, Ecological Protection”, the Railway No. 1 Institute minimizes the impact of the project on environmentally sensitive targets such as natural reserves and water sources along the route by optimizing route selection, rational selection of project crossing forms, and strengthening protection and restoration measures. At the same time, through the vegetation restoration of temporary projects such as the greening on both sides of the railway subgrade, the landscape greening of the station and the soil taking and spoiling yard, the construction of the railway green channel is realized.

Since the official launch of the preliminary work in November 2008, the First Railway Institute has completed 760 square kilometers of geological mapping, 137,000 meters of geological drilling and tens of thousands of kilometers of program research in 13 years. Baocheng high-speed railway, Xicheng high-speed railway, Yinxi high-speed railway and other adjacent projects survey, design and construction experience to ensure that the design plan is scientific, reasonable and reliable.

The Lanhe Railway is an important part of the Lanzhou-Guangzhou Corridor, the national eight-vertical and eight-horizontal high-speed railway. It is the only high-speed rail corridor for the new land-sea corridor from Lanzhou to Chengdu and even in the west. The line runs through Lanzhou City in Gansu Province, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture and Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Involving the Hui, Tibetan, Dongxiang, Baoan and other ethnic minorities to travel, it is also an important communication channel for Han-Tibet cultural exchanges. After the completion of the Lanzhou-Hebei Railway, it will take 40 minutes from Lanzhou to Linxia and 1 hour from Lanzhou to Hezuo. It will end the history of the two autonomous prefectures of Gansu Province that Linxia and Gannan have no railway access, which will help the people in ethnic minority areas to get rid of poverty and achieve high-quality regional economy and society. Development is of great significance. Editor/He Yuting