Xi’an–Chengdu High-Speed Railway

How do you build the first high-speed railway crossing a rocky mountain range – 658km long – without biodiversity ecological impact?

The 658-km Xi’an–Chengdu High-speed Railway embodies the highest standards and technological level in China’s HSR construction, and has addressed internationally recognised challenges posed by complex terrains and geological conditions, and the
high sensitivity of ecological environment.

The resulting railway required the development of eight invention patents and 82 utility model patents.

To preserve ecology across the Qin Mountains, acclaimed as “China’s central park” and the country’s most important ecological barrier, the railway was designed and mapped with a comprehensive environmental analysis to circumvent natural reserves and water source conservation areas.

To protect pandas and golden-haired monkeys living in the Tianhua Mountain nature reserve, more than 90% of the railway tracks in the area are designed to run through channels built 800 to 1,000 meters underground.

To minimize potential impacts on other wild animals, railway viaducts are built with wide arches designed underneath to allow animals to pass through.

In addition to developing a strict environmental monitoring and management system for this railway construction, a WWF special research team worked on wildlife protection along the railway route, and no serious consequences have been found from the team’s all-weather monitoring of the wildlife’s regular activities from a baseline year of 2010.