The first day of the opening of the Xiang’an tunnel

“There is no difficulty we cannot overcome.This is a great achievement of Xiamen people.”In the morning of April 24，2010，before the opening of Xiangan Tunnel，the message board set up atthe Wutong side was filled up with messages containing words of encouragement in less than an hour by the citizens visiting the tunnel.The day before the tunnel opening there was an”Experience-the-Tunnel Day”.It was estimated that about ten thousand people visited the tunnel.Many people even walked back and forth in the tunnel of over 6 km.An 88-year-old fisherman from the Xibin Village of Xiangan walked to Wutong from Xiangan.Considering his age，the staff decided to send him back by car，but he refused.He said in excitement that he used to travel from Xibin to Wutong by boat，and fish in this sea area，but now he could experience walking under the sea，which was a whole new life experience for him.

“We thought the message board was too large，but it was filled up with words of encouragement in less than half an hour.”The staff delivered the pens to the citizens and said，”Many citizens wrote down their feelings，which is good.We want this effect.Later，we will set up a new message board.”

On April 26，2010，Xiang’an Tunnel was opened to traffic.That morning the whole of Xiamen city focused its attention on the opening ceremony.

The official opening ceremony started at 9：00.Before that，on the lawn at the tunnel entrance，several kids and an old man were”rehearsing”.The old man was a retired employee of CRBC，and the kids were from the CRBC employees’families.They were the representatives to declare the opening of the tunnel.At 9：00，the kids jumped around the old man and cheered in Mandarin”Open to traffic！”The old man also shouted loudly in Minnan dialect，”Open to traffic！”

The cheering of the old man and the kids to some extent symbolized the historical changes of Xiamen’s transportation development.Hearing their cheering，the people presented were all in laughter.Without the grand ceremony，or the speech from any leaders or officials，this scene was still an impressive sight.

After this，12 buses with red hibiscus flowers tied to their bodies were driven into the tunnelin 2 groups，one from the Xiangan side and one from the Wutong side，carrying the municipal leaders，tunnel constructors，old seawall constructors，representatives of model workers and representatives from the local population.At the moment the buses entered the tunnel，there were lots of people flying colored ribbons to celebrate.

This undersea tunnel with the largest undersea section in the world was atmospheric and grand.Whilst looking at the”Never Give Up”sculpture，Jing Chunyang，Secretary of China Railway 18th Bureau，said that most people wouldn’t be moved by the sculpture，but as a constructor，he clearly understood the meaning of these words.After he experienced the unimaginable hardships，these words were a true portrayal of the emotions of construction workers.

“The water pressure for the tunnel reached 70-meter water head.Any incident could lead to abandoning the construction of the tunnel.That was a huge potential risk，but we moved forward carefully.In the construction period of four years and eight months，we created the record of no deaths，which was very impressive.Xiangan Tunnel was not only the pride of China，but also thepride of the world.”On the visiting bus，the security officer Wu Shishu’s words were met with applause.

Another constructor representative Huang Lingjiang added，it took 20 months to construct the Xiangan Tunnel through the F1 weathered slot of 130 meters.The Jimei Bridge construction which started at the same time had already been completed.”The advancing distance per day was calculated in Chi（a traditional Chinese unit of length-‘Chinese foot’，approximately 1/3 of a meter）so you can’t say it’s not hard！”

Marveling at the achievement of the tunnel construction，people on the bus were talking about the development of the integrated construction inside and outside the island.In the running chart of the No.750 bus，there were only 14 stations throughout the line from Maxiang Station to Wucun Station.In the past，there were at least 30 stations in the line.Before the opening of the tunnel，the running time of buses between the two places was at least an hour，but now by taking the Xiang’an Tunnel，the total time was shortened by half.

Before the opening ceremony，a large amount of vehicles were queuing to get through the Xiangan Tunnel.After the opening at 10：00，the traffic became very busy in the tunnel.In order to satisfy the public’s curiosity，and detect the operational status of various facilities in Xiang’an Tunnel，the vehicles were not charged on the opening day.

Watching through the big screen in the control room of the tunnel，the traffic in the tunnel could be described as”heavy”.However，the capacity of the dual three-lane tunnels was sufficient to meet the demand so there were no holdups in tunnel.The speed of the vehicles could be maintained at about 60 km/h.The”stress test”on the first day was also a test for a variety of equipment.After the test of the first day，the constructors would the fine-tune the equipment according to the data，to achieve the optimal state.

The throughput on the opening day reached 15，000，which created the record for Xiamen’s passageways to outside of the island on the opening day.After a year of operation，the total traffic of Xiangan Tunnel reached 7，000，000，and the daily average reached 43，000（Currently，this figure has reached more than 60，000 per day）.

When the drivers use the Xiang’an Tunnel，they will only be charged once，which means，only when they pass through the tunnel from Xiamen Island and enter the Xiangan District，they will be charged.Meanwhile，an annual fee system was adopted for Xiamen’s local vehicles，so that the tollfee would not increase.With the charging standard for taxis being 187 Yuan/vehicle/year，private passenger cars being 374 Yuan/vehicle/year，other passenger cars and nonlocal passenger cars being 624 Yuan/vehicle/year，they could use every passageway in and out Xiamen Island.For nonlocal vehicles，whether they take the bridges or the tunnel，they would only be charged 12 Yuan when they left the island.

hancheng

See author's posts