Engineers brave pandemic, pacing up China-Laos railway construction

 

Xu Zhou (C) talks with his colleagues over equipment and technical problems at the office of the China-Laos Railway project in the northern outskirts of Vientiane, capital of Laos, Aug. 5, 2020. The China-Laos Railway is a strategic docking project between the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and Laos' strategy to convert the landlocked country into a land-linked hub. Chinese engineer Xu Zhou, who was awarded the May Fourth Medal, a national top honor for young Chinese, is leading his group from the China Railway No. 2 Engineering Group (CREC-2) to perform the task in the suburbs of Vientiane. "Our pressure mainly comes from two aspects: in this time of pandemic, we must attach great importance to virus prevention, which allows for no sloppiness; meanwhile our supply of materials and equipment is affected by the pandemic, but the online railing job cannot be put off by our offline engineering," he told Xinhua. Xu can now breathe a sigh of relief as his team "has not only ensured the staff's health and well-being, but also laid the timely foundation for the start of the China-Laos Railway on March 27." "With the joint efforts of the Chinese and Lao engineers, we will be able to realize the dream of opening the China-Laos railway as soon as possible," said Xu. (Photo by Pan Longzhu/Xinhua)