There are many gyroidal railway lines in China. General speaking, gyroidal lines are the most common line developments. When the maximum gradient of the lines is constant, the lines need to be artificially stretched in order to reach a predetermined elevation. It's a method to reduce the slope by increasing the mileage.
In the past years, the engineering technology in China was very backward. There was no condition for constructing extremely long tunnels. Therefore, Chinese engineers have to build many gyroidal railway lines to pass through mountains.
Guanjiao lines, Changliushui lines, Guanyinshan lines, Liuduhe lines are the most famous line developments in China. Due to the complex terrain, there are 8 line developments and hundreds of tunnels and bridges along the Chengdu-Kunming railway.
Though not very well-known, Fala gyroidal line is very spectacular. Datianjing Railway Bridge is the second longest bridge along the Chengdu-Kunming railway.
Fala gyroidal line is located between Anazhuang Station and Longgudian Station. One spiral plus two turnbacks form a three-layer line. It passes across the Longchuan River four times. When you cross the Longchuan River by train, you can see the great bridge from different views.
In May 2016, I left Kuming for Heijing to take some pictures about Fala gyroidal line.
When the train arrived at Heijing Station, I got off. I walked more than a hour to Longgudian. Then I found that it was so easy to take great pictures!
Heijing Station, there is the famous Heijing Ancient Town nearby
view from Falong Villiage
tongmodian #1 tunnel in the distance
Lower Fala Village near the tunnel
Datianjing Railway Bridge
tongmodian #2 tunnel
Datianjing Railway Bridge near the Longgudian Station
after shot I walked back to Longgudian Station
The scenery is so magnificent that I took more than 100 photos, haha!
