Let’s continue talking about the construction of Chengdu-Kunming Railway yesterday. "Build roads in the mountains, build bridges when encountering water, and there will be no danger for the railway troops." General Ye Jianying's short poem expressed the pioneering spirit of the railway troops. A month later, in the high mountains that even the ancient caravans could not cross, construction roads that could pass trucks were finally opened.
After the construction access roads were repaired, the truck fleet continuously delivered materials to various construction sites. In fact, there were not so many vehicles available for transportation in the southwest region alone at that time. In order to support the construction of the Chengdu-Kunming Railway, Chairman Mao personally instructed each province to organize a fleet to help the Chengdu-Kunming Railway transport. Many female drivers even came here. Support the construction of the Chengdu-Kunming Railway.
The motor transport team
Everything is ready, and a lot of work at various construction sites of the Chengdu-Kunming Railway can finally begin in a big way. But not long after, the Chengdu-Kunming Railway project was forced to stop. why is that? It turns out that New China encountered its first economic downturn in 1959, and the natural disaster that lasted for three years made "having a full stomach" once again become the biggest problem plaguing the Chinese people. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued an emergency notice to adjust and compress the national economy, and a number of major construction projects were cancelled, including the Chengdu-Kunming Railway that started less than a year ago.
In 1960, the situation improved slightly. Considering the irreplaceable strategic significance of the Chengdu-Kunming Railway, Chairman Mao gave the instruction: "If you don't have money, stop it. If you have money, you have to repair it. We must open the Chengdu-Kunming Railway."
With Chairman Mao's instructions, the construction work of the Chengdu-Kunming Railway started again. In order to reduce the burden on the country, railway soldiers began to open up wasteland and grow potatoes near the camp to become self-sufficient. However, in the context of an era when infrastructure construction across the country has been significantly reduced or even suspended, the Chengdu-Kunming Railway project still failed to persist.
From 1958 to 1963, the Chengdu-Kunming Line was constructed three times up and down three times. It cost 110 million yuan to complete the construction of 10 kilometers of tunnels and about 5 kilometers of bridges. Among them, 61.5 kilometers from Chengdu to Qinglongchang were barely laid and opened to traffic.
Railway soldiers at the construction site
In response to this situation, Chairman Mao issued the instruction to "prepare for war, prepare for shortages, and speed up the construction of third line ". Moreover, Chairman Mao also specifically proposed that the Chengdu-Kunming Line should be repaired quickly. If there are not enough materials, other railways may not be repaired, and efforts should be concentrated to build the Chengdu-Kunming Line first. It strives to be completed and opened to traffic on July 1, 1968. Why did the construction of the Chengdu-Kunming Railway suddenly assume an unprecedentedly important position?
There are three key points in the third-line construction in southwest China, namely Chengdu, Panzhihua and Liupanshui . Chengdu is building a conventional weapons base; Panzhihua is building a steel base , and Liupanshui is a coal base. After these three points are completed, the Liupanshui coal mine can be transported to Panzhihua for steelmaking, and then the steel is transported to Chengdu to produce weapons, and finally support the whole country. The key to the realization of this idea is the Chengdu-Kunming Railway connecting the three points.
Therefore, the Chengdu-Kunming Railway, which has been idle for nearly three years, is once again on the agenda. At the end of August 1964, at the call of Chairman Mao, five divisions of the People's Liberation Army Railway Corps, as well as worker comrades from the Engineering Bureau of the Ministry of Railways and the Second Railway Design Institute, quickly formed a road construction army of 300,000 people.
At the same time, the Southwest Railway Construction General Headquarters, composed of the main leaders of the Railway Corps and the Ministry of Railways, was also established in Chengdu. The general commander is the kind-hearted old man in the photo. His name was Li Jingquan, who was the first secretary of the Southwest Bureau of the Communist Party of China and the first political commissar of the Chengdu Military Region. Under his command, 300,000 road construction troops marched into the Chengdu-Kunming Railway construction site in a mighty manner.
Li Jingquan
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