Shine your youth at the northernmost end of the railway network

Source: Guangming Daily

【New Year grassroots and local news (3)】

Guangming Daily reporter Zhang Shiying

At 14:50 on January 14, the temperature in Daxing'anling, Heilongjiang Province, dropped to more than minus 30 degrees Celsius, and Wang Hongen, a line worker in the Pangu Line Workshop of the Jagdaqi Engineering Section, and 7 co-workers walked the West Luoqi Ridge with knee-deep snow. Although it was only 2 kilometers away from the No. 2 tunnel that was overhauled, they walked for nearly an hour, and their hats and eyelashes were all frosted.

Pangu Station is located at the northernmost end of the national railway network, where the Nenlin Railway Line, which runs through, connects to mohe station, the northernmost railway station in the mainland, and is an important channel for the transportation of gulianhe coal mines in Mohe County, Daxinganling region. In winter, the snow closes the mountains, and the public welfare slow train that runs every day is the only means of transportation for the people along the line to go to school, seek medical treatment, and purchase daily necessities.

This year's Spring Festival is Wang Hong'en's third Spring Festival in Pangu. After graduating from university in 2019, he joined 12 college students from all over the world and worked as a line worker in the Pangu line workshop of the Jagdaqi works section.

"To know the suffering of the railway, you have to go to Pangu." Pangu Town has only more than 80 frost-free days throughout the year, and the minimum temperature reaches minus 53.2 degrees Celsius. Winter railway lines are prone to frost damage, and the lines under the jurisdiction of the workshop are in the mountains and forests, the farthest tunnel is nearly 40 kilometers away from the workshop, you have to take a car for more than 1 hour, and then walk for 40 minutes to reach. In the tunnel, it was cold and cold, and it was dry for several hours. "It's hot when you work, it's cold when you stop, the steamed buns you bring at lunch are all cold, and the teachers have the experience to make a fire in the snow and bake the steamed buns." Wang Hongen said.

Pangu's suffering has made some young people retreat. Jiang Bowen quietly called home, saying that he was homesick and had the heart to go, and was overheard by Fu Xin, a college classmate who came with him.

"Look at those teachers, they have been here since they were young, why can't we?" In the evening, at the bedside meeting in the dormitory, Fu Xin's words calmed Jiang Bowen's wavering heart.

There is no cinema, drink shop or fast food restaurant in the town, in order to make the young people live at ease, the workshop is equipped with TVs, billiards, basketball and other facilities for everyone to entertain, and the meals in the canteen are often changed to meet the different tastes of young people. On the weekend, the boys will also make their own dishes, and everyone will get together to talk.

The friendship of young people and the concern of the unit made these young people fall in love with the simple life here. Every day, they competed with the master to get off the scene, carefully figuring out the soil methods when the teachers and masters were rectifying the level and height of the rails. After work, they also spend most of their time on theoretical learning, and the level of technical business improves rapidly.

"Today's young people are no better than we were then, playing small living conditions, so many years, many people come and go, I didn't expect these young men to be able to stick here, it's not easy!" Ai Changyi, a line worker who has worked here for more than 20 years, said.

Cold and summer, from green to mature, they grow in the grind. In the past two years, more and more retired old workers in the workshop have gradually become the main force of the maintenance team. The 25-year-old Yang Hao was transferred to the Mohe Line Workshop as the team leader of the maintenance team because of his excellent technical business; 26-year-old Li Qiang grew up to be the leader of the maintenance team of the Tahe Line Workshop; Fu Xin also achieved excellent results in the whole section of the line work technology competition, and was elected as the second secretary of the regiment branch of the maintenance team.

The Pangu workshop, which was once known for its bitterness, has become an incubation station for the cultivation of public works talents, and many people have to take root in Daxing'anling and settle down.

Jiang Bowen stayed, and his colleague Zheng Bowen is planning to take his girlfriend over the next year and buy a house in Jagdachchi.

"In the past, the New Year was all sisters-in-law stir-frying and dumplings, and in a few years, we will have a few more brothers and sisters here to help, and in a few years, there will be a large group of small dolls running on the ground, which will be more lively!" Fu Xin looks forward to the future.

Guangming Daily ( 2022-01-19 04 edition)