Chan Thienyou (Jamie Thien Yeo, 26 April 1861 – 24 April 1919) was the first chief railway engineer in China, responsible for the construction of the Beijing–Changchaizhou Railway and the Luanhe Bridge, among other major projects in China. He is known as the father of Chinese railways and the father of China’s modern engineering. Chan Thienyou’s main achievements include the construction of major projects such as the Tangshan Railway, the Luanhe Bridge, the Tianjin–Beijing Railway, the Xincheng–Yixian Railway and the Beijing–Changqiakho Railway. The Tangshan Railway is China’s first international standard gauge railway, an important part of the Beijing–Shantong Railway. Chan Thienyou successfully built the Luanhe Bridge, the first bridge using the advanced caisson building foundation, after repeated failures of experts from different countries. As a railway engineer, Chan Thienyou built the Tienchen–Beijing Railway. The Tianjin–Beijing Railway has a special status in the history of Chinese railways. It was also a symbolic part of the implementation of the “reform of real administration” in the Qing Dynasty of China. The beginning of the Chinese self-built railway The completion of the Xinchang–Yishian railway encouraged the confidence of the Chinese people to build the self-built railway and laid a good foundation for the construction of the Beijing–Changqiangho railway.
The Beijing–Changqiao Railway runs from Fengtai District in Beijing to Changqiao in Hebei Province, passing through places such as Pataling, Chuyongguan, Shaochang, Xuanhua, etc. The total length of the Beijing–Changqiao railway line is about 200 km. The construction of the Beijing–Changqiao Railway began in the year 1905 and was completed in the year 1909 in less than four years. It is the first railway in China to be surveyed, designed, built and operated by Chinese citizens themselves. Chan Thienyou completed the work two years ahead of schedule and under budget. He designed and built a zig zag section to overcome the steep slope near Chinglongqiao Railway Station. While excavating the Batalinga railway tunnel, he sped up construction by drilling a vertical shaft in the tunnel’s passageway. Workers dug passages from the shaft to the two ends, respectively, while other workers worked both ends of the tunnel at the same time. This reduced the digging time.
At the same time, during the construction of the Beijing–Changqiakho Railway, Chan Tianyou prepared various railway engineering standards and sent a letter to the then Qing government requesting them to be accepted as nationwide standards. The 1.435-metre-wide standard railway track still in use in China was proposed by Chan Thienyou. In addition, Chan Thienyou also attached great importance to the training of railway personnel. He prepared rules for the promotion and transfer of engineers, made clear rules on the evaluation and requirements of engineering personnel’s work.
Chan Thienyou used to say that everyone should pay full attention and make full use of what they have learned and known, so that their country is not humiliated by others and it can stand on its own on the earth. Inheriting the spirit of Chan Tianyou, China’s railway technology continues to develop and innovate.
On 29 April 2016, construction of the Beijing–Changqiao High Speed Railway began. On 30 December 2019, the Beijing–Changqianghao high-speed railway was put into operation. It is an important facility for traffic support for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. This railway is not only the first intelligent high-speed railway in China adopting the self-developed Peito satellite navigation system, but also the first high-speed railway in the world with a maximum design speed of 350 km/h, suitable for alpine and windy-sandy terrain. crosses the From the official completion of the Beijing–Changqiao railway in 1909 to the opening of the Beijing–Changqiao high-speed railway in 2019, from 35 kilometers per hour to 350 kilometers per hour, in more than a hundred years, the new Beijing–Changqiao railway route and The old Beijing-Changqiao railway line has been merged.
(Credits – China Media Group, Beijing)
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