The train driver in the courtyard

Standing on the field.

The sun was scorching, and the cicadas in the trees were chirping shrilly.

The air was baked into a thick paste by the high temperature, stickily wrapping everything around, making people feel as if they were in a huge steamer, and every breath was accompanied by a stuffy and heavy feeling.

After Wang Wude finished his performance, he stared at Li Aiguo coldly and thought to himself: Let’s see how you take it!
Liu Qingquan wanted to go over to smooth things over, but Cao Wenzhi stopped him, "Don't worry. Aiguo can handle it."

Facing Wang Wude's stab, Li Aiguo suddenly smiled: "Review? Okay, I also think you should review. Let's start now."

"Ah?!" This unconventional approach directly confused Wang Wude.

Li Aiguo pressed him aggressively: "Review? Didn't you want to review just now? Why don't you review? Are you being two-faced?"

When the word "two-faced person" came out of Li Aiguo's mouth, the faces of the onlookers suddenly changed and the atmosphere at the scene became heated.

Two-faced people is a special term these days, referring to those who are not loyal to the organization, say one thing in public and another in private, and are double-dealers.
The above has published articles several times to denounce "two-faced people".

Even in 1955 and 1960, a movie was specially made called "Before the New Director Arrives" to expose the harm of double-faced people.

All departments, factories, and institutions organized activities to denounce double-faced people.

Once you are labeled as a two-faced person, things will be troublesome.

The employees who were watching also burst into laughter.

"Director Wang was supposed to make a self-examination, why didn't he do so?"

"Need I say more? He says one thing in public and another behind the scenes."

“It’s ridiculous that someone like this could be the director of the Office of Advancement.”

The employees have long been dissatisfied with Wang Wude's dirty tricks to improve efficiency, so naturally they wanted to vent their anger now.

In the crowd, Yan Jiecheng shouted at the top of his voice: "Wang Wude, if you don't make a self-criticism to Brother Aiguo today, you are a two-faced person!"

Wang Wude originally wanted to retreat in order to advance, creating the image that Li Aiguo violated discipline and ignored leadership.

Unexpectedly, Li Aiguo turned against him and he ended up shooting himself in the foot.

In particular, the employees are now on Li Aiguo's side.

Wang Wude showed his strengths at this time. He suddenly laughed twice and said very frankly: "Driver Li, I did not strictly require my subordinates to work hard, which caused trouble to you train drivers. I apologize to you."

"No need to apologize. The safety inspection before driving is related to the safety of the train, so we must not be careless. Next time, please give more time for inspection."

Li Aiguo did not turn the feud with Wang Wude into a personal one, but handled the matter from the perspective of the train drivers, which naturally aroused applause from the onlookers.

Wang Wude was too embarrassed to continue his inspection, so he returned to his office angrily and drank two enamel pots of tea before he managed to calm down his anger.

"This damn Li Aiguo is obviously trying to make things difficult for me."

At this time, the phone rang.

The call was from Officer Zhao who was stationed in Tongzhou from the Progress Office of Qianmen Locomotive Depot.

In order to maximize train efficiency, the Progress Office of each locomotive depot has stationed specialists at various stations in Beijing to supervise work.

Tongzhou Station is the counterpart station of the Progress Office of Qianmen Locomotive Depot.

Zhao Gan reported the progress of Tongzhou turnout station, Tongzhou switch stations and Tongzhou special line stations over the phone in advance, and asked how the next step of work should be carried out.

Speaking of work, Wang Wude's mood gradually improved. He flipped through a page of draft with his stubby fingers and read:

“I conducted a survey yesterday and found that the switching procedures in the station are too complicated. Each switching requires three procedures and three people.

This not only affects the operating efficiency of the train, but also wastes manpower.

So from now on, all procedures are cancelled and only one switchman is required to do the switching work."

Officer Zhao nodded: "I'll arrange it right away."

Wang Wude narrowed his eyes and continued, "Xiao Zhao, this is a good opportunity, you must seize it."

Although this statement seemed a bit strange, Secretary Zhao understood it immediately.

Secretary Zhao was originally an apprentice fireman, and he learned from Master Quan, the fireman of Train No. 1621.

Because he couldn't stand the hardship, he quit the job after working for a few days, regardless of his master's advice.

He graduated from junior high school and was considered an intellectual. No one knew through whom he got into the Qianmen Locomotive Depot's labor union and became an officer.

Of course, Secretary Zhao is still an ordinary worker and dreams of being transferred to a cadre position.

However, the Qianmen Locomotive Depot has only a few conversion indicators every year.

Secretary Zhao is a smart man. When Wang Wude was trying to respond to the call to catch up with Britain and the United States, he realized that the opportunity had come. He immediately fully supported Wang Wude's work and cheered for him.

His efforts were rewarded as he was appointed as a commissioner, a position that only cadres could hold.

But that’s all. Secretary Zhao knows that if he wants to continue to make progress, he has to show results.

Officer Zhao's eyes turned and he whispered, "Director Wang, after many days of research at Tongzhou Station, I found that the work regulations of the railway signal room are also quite complicated. A small office actually has three duty officers who have to be on duty 24 hours a day."

Hearing this, Wang Wude was shocked and quickly interrupted what Officer Zhao was saying.

"Xiao Zhao, this is a new dispatching organization set up in the ministry, and Minister Teng is personally watching over it. Don't think about going to the railway signal room."

"I understand." Director Zhao was shocked. You know, the reason why he proposed to renovate the railway signal room was just for the sake of progress.

Now that it involves the ministry, he will not ask for trouble.

Seeing that Secretary Zhao had no new ideas, Wang Wude reminded him to work according to the previous plan and then hung up the phone.

******
On the other side, Li Aiguo had completed the inspection of the train.

"Dispatcher Zhao, we can set off on train 131."

Dispatcher Zhao quickly handed the prepared dispatch form to Li Aiguo and hurriedly called the switchman to change the branch track.

Under the supervision of the scorer, the switchman moved the gate without even having time to check the track number twice.

Liu Qingquan looked at their panic, spitted, frowned and said: "Train drivers are most afraid of being anxious. If you keep doing this, something will happen sooner or later."

"Okay, Lao Liu, stop talking nonsense and let's get in the car." Cao Wenzhi was worried that Liu Qingquan would get into trouble, so he patted Liu Qingquan on the shoulder.

Li Aiguo took Liu Qingquan on board the train, blew the whistle, slowly pushed the handbrake, and the 131 steam locomotive roared away from the Qianmen maintenance station, starting a busy day.

In order to speed up the process, the station has now simplified several work steps.

In order to prevent safety accidents, Li Aiguo had to remind Liu Qingquan to be careful and look out.

Fortunately, nothing happened along the way. Train No. 131 left Beijing Railway Station smoothly and headed towards Tianjin.

"We are about to arrive at Tongzhou switch station, Lao Liu, cheer up."

Danger often comes from negligence. The longer he drives the train and the more experience he gains, Li Aiguo feels that he is becoming less courageous.

Seeing Liu Qingquan talking to Lao Zheng about his son taking over, Li Aiguo reminded him while paying attention to the various indicators on the instrument.

"Don't worry, Driver Li. Although the higher-ups are pressing us, all train drivers will..."

Before Liu Qingquan finished speaking, his voice suddenly changed, and he shouted at the top of his voice: "Driver Li, brake, brake quickly! Fuck!"

When Li Aiguo noticed that Liu Qingquan's voice was not right, he had already dropped the order.

By the time the word "brake" popped out of Liu Qingquan's throat, sparks were already coming out of the train's wheels.

The sharp sound of exhaust and the harsh sound of wheels rubbing against the rails filled the hot air in the driver's building.

At this moment, my heart was beating violently, and the duration of each breath seemed to be infinitely stretched.

Li Aiguo held on to his car with his hands, his eyes fixed on the front of the track. There was nothing in front of him, only a bunch of carriages parked on the dedicated line next door. No, there should be two trains.

The sunlight was so bright that it hurt his eyes. Li Aiguo squinted his eyes and finally saw clearly through the steaming air.

The two trains twisted and collided with each other, with more than a dozen carriages scattered on the ground and black smoke coming out of the front of the train.

It is certain that the accident occurred a few minutes ago.
No, the accident must have happened seconds ago, because the wheels of the last overturned carriage were still turning.

The cold light cast by the wheels cast from fine steel is chilling.

At this time, the railway workers in charge of the rescue were not busy saving people. Instead, they turned around and stared at Train No. 131 with horror.

Li Aiguo felt that these people were too unprofessional.

Look at dier!
The passenger train and the dedicated line are not on the same track and are almost three tracks apart. How could they collide?

Thoughts are still lingering.

Under the influence of inertia, Train 131 suddenly turned its front end, rushed onto the dedicated line, and ran towards the rear of the train in front.

Oh shit!

Li Aiguo was startled and immediately shouted "Avoid collision!".

He crossed his hands over his head in a collision-proof posture.

The so-called anti-collision posture is similar to the posture that flight attendants and passengers take when a civil airliner makes an emergency landing, and it can increase the survival rate of passengers.

But Li Aiguo was not too panicked.

He had just calculated that the train's speed when it braked was 62 kilometers per hour, and the total weight of Train No. 131 was about 960 tons.

The fluctuating weight depends on whether the passengers have eaten enough before boarding the bus today.

According to the technical manual of the Patriot steam engine, the standard braking distance of Train No. 131 is 830 meters under full braking.

The distance from the brake to the rear of the accident train is one thousand meters.

The wheels were also in place and the brake system had been activated, so there would definitely not be an accident like a 737-800 commercial airliner crashing into a concrete wall during landing.

That concrete wall is not a real wall, but an antenna used to guide the blind landing of passenger planes, which is an auxiliary landing system.

(Of course, general blind landing antennas are made of flexible materials, and it is indeed abstract to build a solid concrete wall with sticks)
The maximum landing weight of the 737-800 passenger aircraft is 65 tons and the entry speed is 240.

When the aircraft's flaps, landing gear and spoilers are not extended, the minimum braking distance is 3059 meters.

This distance far exceeds the length of the airport, crossing two roads and extending to the sea.

From the moment the Korean plane pilot chose to touch down at 3/4 of the runway, leaving himself with only a few hundred meters of braking distance and chose to land directly, the fate of the passenger plane was decided.

At such a high speed, even if there is no concrete wall, if the plane runs out of the airport runway and hits any uneven ground, it will be enough to cause the plane to somersault and disintegrate and explode.

There is also a conclusion that seems to be counterintuitive but is absolutely correct: the braking force generated by the landing gear and wheel brakes is far greater than the braking force generated by the friction of the belly of the aircraft on the ground.

The principle is as follows: According to f=μFN, where F is the friction force, μ is the friction coefficient, and N is the positive pressure, the friction coefficient of the smooth belly of the aircraft is much smaller than that of the tire.
(Thirty million words of proof omitted here) The Koreans put the blame on the concrete wall to cover up a point - the Korean pilots were too poor and they panicked at the critical moment.

The Korean captain's amazing operation is well-known in the industry, so it is not surprising that such low-end mistakes occurred.

As a train driver, Li Aiguo couldn't stand the unprofessional behavior, so he kept complaining for a while.

The scene turns back to Tongzhou Chadao Station.

The wheels were making sparks and lightning all the way.

Finally, when passenger train No. 131 hit the rear of the freight train, it braked in time.

The whole process seems complicated, but in fact, it took less than ten seconds from the time Liu Qingquan sent the signal to the time the train stopped.

Only then did Liu Qingquan spit out the word "fuck" from his throat.

After the train stabilized, his whole body suddenly went limp, unable to support himself any longer, and he sat down on the chair.

Li Aiguo breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the train stop steadily.

Now the No. 131 passenger train is less than five meters away from the rear of the freight train.

He could even clearly see that on the rear end of the opposite car, some naughty kid had drawn a crooked turtle with chalk.

Well, it’s a good painting.

Passenger train No. 131 suddenly stopped, and the passengers in the carriage were frightened and stuck their heads out.

Train conductor Bai was writing her thoughts on speeding up the train in the conductor's room when her pen flew out. She did not bother to pick it up and quickly opened the door and got off the train with the conductor.

At this time, Li Aiguo had already jumped down from the driver's building.

After just two glances, he vaguely understood the cause of the accident between the two freight trains ahead - a head-on collision.

Currently, the 131 passenger station is located at Tongzhou Chadao Station.

The real name of Tongzhou Chadao Station should be Tongzhou Railway Station.

It is just because there are too many branches in the station, including several dedicated lines and double tracks, that the drivers call it a branch station.

The train parked in front is full of heavy coke, belonging to Tongzhou Oriental Chemical Plant (currently one of the largest chemical plants in China).

The other is a small freight train transporting supplies.

The front of the truck was completely damaged.

The two trucks next to it were badly damaged, three were medium-damaged and one was small-damaged and was crushed to the ground by the carriage. Judging from the twisted front ends and carriages of the trucks, they should have been scrapped.

Several truck drivers had been rescued and were squatting on the ground groaning, holding their injured thighs.

Employees at the Tongzhou branch station are organizing rescue workers to use hydraulic scissors to rescue the driver and fireman of the small freight train.

The rescue workers, who had just been startled by the oncoming Train 131, came to their senses and quickly got back to work.

The scene was filled with black smoke coming out of the driver's building, the air was mixed with crying and shouting, and the atmosphere was so tense that it was terrifying.

Captain Bai rushed over at this time: "Driver Li, what happened?"

"It might be a fork in the road." Li Aiguo's whole body trembled violently. He felt cold all over in the hot summer, and panic enveloped him like darkness.

Li Aiguo turned around suddenly and ran to the fork in the road.

"Switchman! Switchman!"

Li Aiguo shouted a few times at the top of his lungs, but no one responded.

He walked across the long railway track and rushed into the narrow switch room.

The switchman's room is a distinctive building in the station in those days, which is used exclusively for switchmen on duty.

At this time, the switchman Chen Chuan was still sleeping soundly on the duty desk.

After being woken up by Li Aiguo, he still didn't know that an accident had occurred. He yawned and asked, "Comrade driver, what's wrong? Didn't your train turn to track 21 according to the shunting plan?"

"It did turn to track 21, but it wasn't one train, it was two."

"." The switchman Chen Chuan didn't seem to understand what Li Aiguo meant.

Li Aiguo didn't bother to explain and asked him to take his tools and rush to the fork in the road, pointing to the fork between the main line and the dedicated line.

"what 's wrong?"

According to regulations, the station’s dedicated line is for dedicated use only. In order to prevent accidents caused by mainline trains running onto the dedicated line, the switch must be reset in time after it is turned.

Now the switch is still in an open state and connected to the main line. This is the real reason why Train 131 rushed from the main line to the dedicated line.

Before Chen Chuan realized that there was a problem with the switch, Li Aiguo repeated it again. He saw two trains colliding not far away and was suddenly shocked.

It was the first time that Li Aiguo saw someone so shocked.

The switchman's eyes were shaking rapidly, his whole body was shaking, and there were wet marks on his trouser legs.

"I, I don't know."

"It's over, it's over."

The switchman Chen Chuan was already panicking at this time. He squatted on the ground, stood up, and squatted down again. He held his head and burst into tears.

"Hey, hurry up and close the switch. It would be terrible if there is another train coming from behind!" Liu Qingquan had just experienced a life-and-death situation. Facing the culprit of the accident, he wanted to kick him out.

Li Aiguo grabbed Liu Qingquan's arm and said, "He's probably unable to work in this condition. Lao Liu, take Lao Zheng to close the switch. I have to go and notify the dispatch center!"

Liu Qingquan also knew that even if he beat up the switchman, it would not change the fact that the accident had already happened.

Switchman work is the simplest job.

Liu Qingquan opened the lock and pulled out the pin, while Lao Zheng gripped the handle tightly to turn the switch, and it was closed in just a few clicks.

Li Aiguo also contacted the dispatching center of Beijing Railway Bureau through the dedicated telephone line of Tongzhou branch station.

To Li Aiguo's surprise, comrades at the dispatching center said they had detected that the main line train was missing.

The railway automatic signal responded automatically and closed the block section near Tongzhou branch station.

Currently, three trains have been stopped ten kilometers away.

At the same time, the Beijing Road Bureau has sent a special team to deal with the accident.

When Liu Qingquan learned that the General Administration would send someone over, he couldn't help but smile and said, "In the past, when a train had an accident, the driver had to walk to the switch station ahead to notify the bureau. Now with the railway automatic signal, we don't have to do anything, and someone will come to rescue us."

Li Aiguo's expression did not relax at all.

Two freight trains were lost in this accident, two of the Jiefang-type steam locomotives were damaged, and two coal and water cars were scrapped. The loss was extremely heavy.

Fortunately, the accident occurred at the Tongzhou switch station. The staff at the station provided timely rescue, rescued the injured and quickly sent them to the hospital.

Stationmaster Liu of Tongzhou Chadao Station is an old comrade. At this moment, his wrinkled face looked as if covered with a layer of frost.

After he sent the injured away, he looked at the passenger train that he had almost hit and felt a sense of fear in his heart.

There are thousands of passengers on the passenger train. If something really happens... Stationmaster Liu doesn't dare to think about it anymore.

Seeing that the rescue was over, Stationmaster Liu quickly came to the front of Train 131.

Trainmaster Bai was discussing the follow-up work with Li Aiguo. When he saw Stationmaster Liu coming over, he went to greet him and said, "Stationmaster Liu, when will our No. 131 train depart? You know that everything is about quantity now."

Stationmaster Liu smiled bitterly and said, "Xiao Bai, it's not that we are unreasonable in the station, but the No. 131 train has been in an accident. If we leave like this, we will have a hard time explaining to the special agent from the bureau when he comes."

It seems to Xiaobai that Captain Bai and Stationmaster Liu are old friends.

Li Aiguo looked at the anxious passengers.

To prevent accidents, passengers were not allowed to get off the bus.

But the weather was hot and the carriage was as stuffy as a hot pot. Several young men were sticking their butts out and trying to climb out of the window.

The conductor took a big stick and hit everyone one by one until he was able to control the situation.

But if this continues, there will definitely be trouble.

Li Aiguo came up with an idea: "Passenger transport cannot be interrupted. If you have an idle steam locomotive in your station, you can dispatch one and take the carriage away. We will leave the 131 locomotive here to assist in the accident investigation."

"That's a good idea. But I have to consult the bureau."

Station Liu is also aware that the current accident has not affected the main line tracks. If they are all closed, it will affect normal railway transportation.

Afterwards, Liu returned to the office and reported the situation to the General Administration.

After listening to the report, the General Administration agreed to replace the locomotive of Train No. 131.

In addition, because there are two grain trains heading from Tianjin to Beijing, grain transportation is the most important task at present, so the blocked section will be reopened in half an hour.

Tongzhou Switch Station connects the Jingfeng Railway and was built in 1901. It was considered a large station at that time.

There is a repair workshop in the station, with several turnover locomotives parked inside. Station Liu has transferred a patriotic steam locomotive.

Thirteen carriages were detached from the original locomotive and a Patriotic steam locomotive was attached to the thirteenth carriage.

Cao Wenzhi led the regular driver team to carry out the next driving task. Li Aiguo, Liu Qingquan and Master Zheng stayed behind to cooperate with the General Administration's investigation.

Before we knew it, it was noon and the Tongzhou switch station, which had been temporarily closed due to an accident, was reopened.

After Liu Zhan finished arranging the work, he came to the 131 locomotive again and shouted, "Driver Li, come down to eat."

Li Aiguo had already opened the iron waist lunch box. Upon hearing this, he put the lunch box back without hesitation.

"Liu Zhan, I didn't expect you Tongzhou people to be so welcoming."

Tongzhou Switch Station provided lunch to all the people involved in the rescue and affected.

The lunch was very sumptuous. The dish was mustard cabbage with animal oil. Each person was given a large pancake made of three grains of flour. You can imagine how delicious it was!
Liu Zhan did not have the style of a leader. Like Li Aiguo, he squatted on the ground and bit off a piece of cake with his yellowed teeth.

"The responsibility for today's incident lies mainly with our Tongzhou Station. If you do something wrong, you must be punished."

Although the accident investigation team has not been sent down yet, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the cause of the accident is very simple - the switch was not closed as required.

After realizing that the switch was not closed, Station Liu sent people to control the dispatcher and the switchman.

"We have just controlled both the switchman and the dispatcher. We have confirmed that the dispatcher of the shunting team did issue a dispatch order, but the switchman claimed that he did not receive any order."

"Chen Chuan is not very old, but he has been a switchman for five years. He has always been diligent and conscientious. How could such a thing happen this time?"

(End of this chapter)