Witness of change

A decade after the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed corridor started to function, a leading engineer recalls the journey, Zhao Ruixue and Liu Kun report.

Xu Keliang is a man of medium height and tanned skin and wears glasses like many others in China. His work as a leading designer of the country’s most complex high-speed corridor distinguishes him.

Sitting in his office in Wuhan, Central China’s Hubei province, the engineer says he has taken on challenges at work, without a thought of ever giving up.

“Building a high-speed railway in China was my dream. And no matter how hard it got, I knew it would be my life’s pursuit,” Xu, 58, says.

His dream turned into reality by the end of 2009, when the high-speed railway connecting Wuhan and Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong province, was put into service. The Wu-Guang (Wuhan-Guangzhou) line stretching 1,068.6 kilometers over plains and hills, saw trains running at 350 kph, which cut travel time between the two provincial capitals by more than six hours.