The ropeway doctor who guards tourists
"For us, there is no difference between the mountain and the ground, although the altitude is different, but we have long been accustomed to it."
"It is my greatest value to let more tourists enjoy the great rivers and mountains of the motherland at a height of 1,000 meters."
Wen | Xu Buyun, a reporter of the "Lookout" news weekly, and an intern Zhao Meng
Have you ever had a gondola ride? Through the clouds, you are in the clouds, and you can see the mountains and rivers at your feet. But Song Xin had no time to enjoy the scenery, he was a ropeway maintenance worker, holding a walkie-talkie throughout the whole process, constantly reporting the inspection of the ropeway.
The Tianmen Mountain Ropeway in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, which Song Xin is responsible for, has a total length of 7455 meters and a height difference of nearly 1300 meters, which is the longest sightseeing passenger ropeway in the world, and also the ropeway with the most supports and the largest local slope in China.
From the center of Zhangjiajie to the top of Tianmen Mountain, the Tianmen Mountain Ropeway is like a rainbow flying across the sky, taking nearly 30 minutes to take a one-way trip, and even the temperature change can be clearly felt. On the way, you can enjoy the urban scenery, pastoral scenery, dangerous peaks and deep ravines, such as marching in a magnificent picture, there is the reputation of "the world's first mobile viewing corridor in the air", countless tourists come to visit.
Behind the beautiful scenery is the silent efforts of Song Xin and his colleagues.
Ropeway Doctor
How can such a long, steep ropeway ensure stable and safe operation?
"The ropeway maintenance must be particularly meticulous and not miss any detail." For example, Song Xin said that a car on the highway is broken, which only affects the vehicle itself, and other vehicles can take a detour. No matter how long a ropeway is, no matter how many gondolas there are, it is just a set of equipment, and any local failure, even if it is just a screw loose, may cause a full line of parking, and if an accident occurs in operation, the consequences are even more unimaginable.
This put forward extremely high requirements for Song Xin's work. The more than 7,000-meter ropeway contains 57 brackets (including 3 horizontal ambulance brackets), 113 gondolas, 3 stations up, middle and bottom, wire ropes and various equipment in the station, all on his checklist.
"In our line of work, we must be able to hear problems that ordinary people can't hear, and see places that ordinary people can't see." Listening and seeing is the main way for Song Xin to check whether the ropeway is operating normally: walk out of the maintenance box, climb on the bracket, listen to whether the wheels have abnormal noise, observe whether the wire rope has rust, detect the operating temperature of the equipment, and see whether the movement trajectory is normal.
Ropeways can only detect problems when they are running. Unlike the closed gondola that tourists ride, the maintenance box that Song Xin rides on during the inspection is open, and every morning, he and his colleagues will take the maintenance box to inspect a circle.
As long as there is a trace of abnormality, Song Xin will report to the leader on duty through the walkie-talkie. Can be repaired on the spot, immediately disassembled and replaced, completed before the tourists enter; in the evening, after the tourists go down the mountain, they must be re-examined.
"The car has to be maintained every once in a while, and every bracket is the same, and only careful maintenance will not cause problems." Every once in a while, Song Xin and her colleagues have to carry out comprehensive maintenance of all stents. Shouldering the safety of passengers, they dare not slack off in the slightest.
Tourist guardian
Song Xin is the first "tourist" of the Tianmen Mountain Ropeway every day.
At 6:30 a.m., the maintenance box departed on time, and before the official opening of the operation, Song Xin had to take the maintenance box for one hour of inspection.
During an inspection, Song Xin heard a strange noise when the wheels rolled. With a temperature gun, the temperature of the wheel was indeed much higher than usual, and he immediately replaced the wheel with the problem according to the requirements and replaced it with a new one.
Recalling the situation on that day, Song Xin said that because of the maintenance, tourists entered 10 minutes later than usual, but only 100% guaranteed that the ropeway would operate normally to allow tourists to get on the cable car, which is a "principle that must be adhered to."
Sometimes, the ropeway will suddenly stop during operation. In the face of emergency situations, whether it can be handled carefully and cautiously is also a test. Not long ago, Song Xin was on duty at the middle station, suddenly there was a power outage, the power fluctuation was unstable, after two or three consecutive beats, the current suddenly increased and burned the air protection switch of the middle station, and the ropeway was forced to stop running.
Song Xin immediately informed the passengers of the power failure through the broadcast, calmed the passengers' emotions, and quickly replaced the air protection switch, and after about 10 minutes, the ropeway resumed normal operation.
Since the ropeway operates in an open-air environment, in addition to daily wear and tear, weather changes can also have an impact. Tianmen Mountain is located in a high mountain area, often sudden thunder and rain, you must always be vigilant.
Once on duty in the station room, Song Xin suddenly heard thunder, and after running out of the station room, he found that the dark clouds were above, and the thunder was getting louder and louder. In order to prevent safety accidents in the ropeway, Song Xin temporarily closed the ropeway according to the lightning weather ropeway operation safety regulations.
"Thunderstorms are not something we can control." The rain kept falling, and the thought of hundreds of people trapped in mid-air made Song Xin's heart burn. He had been observing the weather, and after more than 30 minutes, the thunderstorm had subsided and the ropeway could finally be moved.
Song Xin, a ropeway maintenance worker in the Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area of Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, works at a high altitude
Cloud strivers
Song Xin, who graduated from the electrical automation major, is particularly interested in circuits and has been doing ropeway maintenance work for nearly 5 years.
Recalling the first time she put on the bracket in 2016, although equipped with a full set of safety protection facilities such as safety ropes, hard hats, and non-slip shoes, Song Xin was still afraid. The teacher took him, who was still a novice, along the maintenance passage, climbed the top of the bracket with his bare hands, from how to hang the safety rope to where the danger could not stand, one by one.
Nowadays, climbing the bracket and shuttling through the clouds has become Song Xin's daily routine. He can quickly flip through the maintenance box onto the ropeway bracket, run the wheels, bearings, bolts, and knock and check one by one.
In the summer, his overalls were soaked with sweat during the overhaul, but on the bracket between the square inches, Song Xin kept staring at every inch of steel wire rope from his fingertip.
"I haven't been in this business for too long, and I haven't seen many problems." Song Xin said that when he encountered difficulties, he would take the initiative to ask an experienced teacher for advice. Once in the maintenance, he found that the wheel group running abnormally, knocking and beating but how can not find out the reason, please come to the teacher Fu to see, only to find that the wheel is rusty.
From a zero-based "Little White" to a qualified ropeway maintenanceman, Song Xin has accumulated experience by learning from the teacher, recording every problem and experience in the day-to-day inspection process, and familiarizing the normalized maintenance data with the heart.
Once, Song Xin found that when the lower station transfer belt rotated, the bearing made a strange noise, and he and his colleagues skillfully dismantled the bearing, removed the baffle that had a problem, and divided the bearing back to normal under three times and five divided by two.
"For us, there is no difference between the mountains and the ground, although the altitude is different, but they have long been used to it." Shuttling through the clouds and fog, guarding this 7,000-meter-long line, Song Xin said that allowing more tourists to enjoy the great rivers and mountains of the motherland at a height of 1,000 meters is his greatest value. □