Recently, during the “Journalist Day” established by the Chinese Communist Party, two journalists from the official “Economic Reference Newspaper” were attacked while investigating a large-scale high-speed rail project of a major state-owned enterprise. The project in question is the Anhui Hefei-Xinyi Railway project constructed by a subsidiary company of China Railway Engineering Group, which has been exposed to serious safety hazards. It was just last year when similar reports of “substandard construction” emerged in Chinese high-speed rail projects.
According to a report by Xinhua News Agency’s “Economic Reference Newspaper,” journalists discovered at the construction site of the Hefei-Xinyi Railway (from Hefei to Xinyi) that several construction units were cutting corners by substituting the “terpolymer ethylene propylene rubber elastic layer” with “recycled rubber imitation products” that do not meet railway industry standards. These imitation products have significantly lower performance than the design requirements, posing safety risks.
In railway construction, the track plates are laid on base plates on the roadbed or bridge abutment, and the limit slot device is a connecting component between the base plate and the track plate. The elastic layer is one of the key materials of the limit slot device, used to restrict the displacement of track plates caused by the impact of high-speed train operation.
During undercover investigations at multiple sections of the Hefei-Xinyi Railway construction site, reporters from the “Economic Reference Newspaper” found abnormalities in the elastic layers already installed in the limit slot devices, with instances of them easily tearing or breaking upon minimal force.
Industry insiders revealed that the elastic layers showing such poor quality were made from “recycled rubber” instead of the “terpolymer ethylene propylene rubber” required by railway industry standards, making them severely substandard and unable to withstand the impact of high-speed train operations.
Products made from “recycled rubber” significantly differ in price from terpolymer ethylene propylene rubber, with the former costing about 1/4 of the latter.
When questioned about using substandard elastic layers in construction, several construction units involved in the aforementioned sections denied any issues of cutting corners or using inferior materials.
On November 14th, according to reports by “Xiaoxiang Morning News” and “Jímù News,” Director Wang Wenzhi and senior journalist Cheng Zilong from the Economic Reference Newspaper were physically assaulted while conducting interviews at the construction site of the Anhui Hefei-Xinyi High-Speed Rail project by China Railway Seventh Bureau. The journalists were physically attacked, had their phones confiscated, and Wang Wenzhi sustained injuries to his right hand.
Following the incident, the person in charge of the safety hazard investigation and reporting hotline at China Railway Seventh Bureau responded to the media by downplaying the attack as a minor altercation and shifting blame to the construction workers: “It might have been the construction workers (who did it).”
China Railway Seventh Bureau Group Limited released a statement on November 14th, stating that they had sent a task force to investigate the reports of substandard materials used in the construction of the Hefei-Xinyi Railway.
The news of these incidents quickly sparked discussions online.
Reporter Hao Cheng from “China Business News” wrote on Weibo, “If they had known a cadre above the department level, they wouldn’t have done something so absurd! These two journalists have won multiple Chinese journalism awards, and their reports instructed by senior officials are too numerous to count. They are well-known investigative journalists in official circles, yet they were beaten in Anhui!”
Many netizens commented, saying, “Even Xinhua News Agency journalists dare to be assaulted,” and “Blame is shifted to temporary workers, security guards; it has nothing to do with the leaders.” They expressed concerns about the layers of protection due to the deep backgrounds of state-owned enterprises, making it hard to hold anyone accountable.
However, many official internet commentators defended China Railway Seventh Bureau, stating, “High-speed rail is safe,” and “We believe the government will thoroughly investigate.”
Public records show that China Railway Seventh Bureau Group Limited is a subsidiary of the major state-owned enterprise China Railway Engineering Group Limited. Its business scope covers railways, highways, and municipal projects.
In reality, this is not the first time Chinese high-speed rail construction projects have been exposed for substandard practices.
According to a July report by the “Economic Reference Newspaper” last year, a subcontractor for the Shandong Lai Rong High-Speed Rail Section 3 officially reported that the main contractor, China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd., was suspected of cutting corners and reducing material quality. Most of the threaded piles did not meet design requirements, posing significant safety hazards in the Lai Rong High-Speed Rail project.
After extensive research on the Lai Rong High-Speed Rail project, it was found that the reported issues of cutting corners resonated with the subcontractor’s concerns. Other subcontractors responsible for the construction of roadbed sections also reported similar issues during pile driving operations.
The Lai Rong High-Speed Rail is a major project in Shandong Province, stretching from Lai Xi City in Qingdao to Rong Cheng City in Weihai, with a total length of 193 kilometers, a total investment of 29.7 billion yuan, and a design speed of 350 kilometers per hour. The construction of Section 3 of this high-speed rail project is under China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau, and Sanjie Company is one of the subcontractors responsible for the pile drilling work in some roadbed sections.
Once reported, this incident quickly ignited public debate, prompting China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau to launch an investigation. However, the quality control issues continued to plague the construction.
According to “Zhejiang Daily” Chao News, some homeowners in the Jinsha Le Fu Phase A project in Qingdao West Coast New Area, Shandong, raised concerns that China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau’s Jinsha Le Fu Phase A project might have quality issues related to concrete strength testing, delaying project deliveries. Despite multiple complaints to relevant authorities, there have been no signs of project resumption.
Public records indicate that China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau is under the umbrella of China State Construction Engineering Corporation, a subsidiary of the state-owned enterprise China State Construction Group. Despite the repeated quality issues, the company has received accolades such as the “National Quality Award,” “National Excellent Construction Enterprise,” and “China Integrity-operating Enterprise.”