Standing near a newly rotated continuous girder bridge traversing the Yiyang-Zhanjiang Railway, 25-year-old builder Deng Yelong was proud that the 14,000-metric-ton giant structure came into perfect position after a year of hard work.

The girder bridge, part of the Yulin-Cenxi section of the Nanning-Zhuhai High-Speed Railway, was built outside Yidong village in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and was successfully rotated on July 2 with a weight equivalent to about 9,300 automobiles.

"We started to build the swivel cast-in-place bridge on June 25,2024," recalled Deng, a graduate from Jiangxi Science&Technology Normal University majoring in civil engineering and now a technical director at China Railway No 4 Engineering Group.

The 600-kilometer Nanning-Zhuhai HSR, linking Guangxi with neighboring Guangdong province with 15 stations, allows trains to run at a designed speed of 350 kilometers per hour.

Deng came to work at CREC4 Fifth Engineering upon graduation in 2023, and after one year working on digging tunnels and building railway beds on the No 3 bid of the HSR's Yulin-Cenxi section, he was promoted to technical director due to his outstanding work.

Pointing to the completed swivel railway bridge, he said: "Please look at the two giant parts spanning both sides of the pillar bridge-pier. Both extend for 80 meters each, and have to be cast alongside the existing railway without any effect on its operations. We worked with some 40 employees for one year on the job.

As a technical director, my burden was heavy, as the rotation project is a tough battle and the behemoths must be rotated 41 degrees at a height of 40 meters," adding that the precision must be controlled within millimeters.

"This cannot be achieved through individual heroism, but from teamwork," he said, recalling that even during the traditional Spring Festival for family reunions, they still worked on their job.

"As a builder, watching the project taking shape day-by-day, this sense of transforming a piece of land is unlike any other job."

Deng's quick promotion on the job showed that building railways is helping cultivate more skilled technicians and managerial staff.

Liu Di, 34, deputy chief-engineer of CREC4's prefabricated components smart center for the No 3 bid of Yulin-Cenxi section on Nanning-Zhuhai HSR, was happy to see more new technologies being adopted by CREC4 in building the new railways.

Liu said they saw the first introduction of an intelligent production line for the prefabrication of small components in August 2023, when construction of CREC4's center for the small components was completed, making it the country's largest and most advanced at the time. It began operations on Aug 13.

"The center is responsible for the prefabrication of precast concrete components for all five bids of the Yulin-Cenxi section, including 61,043 roadbed protective fences, 6,092 pile retaining plates, 443,802 hollow bricks, 24,204 cable troughs, 76,080 cable-trough covers, 390,344 bridge cover plates, 50,238 shutters and 438,377 tunnel cover pieces," he said.

"Our precast concrete component requires some 55,987 cubic meters of concrete, which can fill 22 Olympic-sized swimming pools (each measuring 50 meters in length, 25 meters in width, and 2 meters in depth, covering some 2,500 cubic meters), while our steel reinforcements are about 8,614 tons — equivalent to the weight of over 5,700 automobiles put together."

Wang Wei, office director of the CREC4 project department working on the No 3 bid of the Yulin-Cenxi section, said their achievements on building the swivel bridge, digging tunnels and precasting concrete components, let them appreciate the scientific and technical beauty of their work in helping build a more beautiful country.

Zhang Shaoyong, born in 1981, and his wife, both work on the construction site of the CREC4 project department responsible for the No 3 bid of Yulin-Cenxi section, with Zhang serving as a foreman of the on-site bridge team responsible for building the swivel bridge, and his wife engaging in logistics and cooking at the workers' living quarters.

With two kids back at home — a son in junior high school and daughter in primary school — the couple know they have to work hard to support them.

Born in Chongqing and entering the construction sector at the age of 20, Zhang worked with the CREC4 builders for the first time during constructing the Xijin Yujiang grand bridge on the No 6 bid of Shanglin-Hengxian Expressway in Guangxi for three years.

Prior to that, he worked on construction sites in Guizhou and Zhejiang provinces with other State-owned companies.

"I have been in the construction industry for 24 years, starting from a concrete mold worker, steel reinforcement worker, concrete worker and now I am a team leader," said Zhang, adding that after completing work on the Xijin Yujiang grand bridge, he and his wife moved to the No 3 bid of Yulin-Cenxi section.

"My biggest takeaway while working on CREC4 projects is that management is stricter, both in on-site construction procedures and materials management, as well as in managing the workers' living quarters," said Zhang.

"The demanding management helped me and my wife improve our working skills, and with a handsome income, we have enough salary to send back home to support my family," he said.

"I have been working on transport construction in Guizhou, Zhejiang and Guangxi, helping the locals to develop better with the improvement of roads and railways, and this has made me very proud as our hard work can help create happiness," Zhang said.

Wang's colleague Zhu Taotao, 33, has another fond memory after working on various posts — winning the love of his girlfriend-turned-wife Yuan Shengmei.

After joining CREC4 Fifth Engineering in 2015, he has worked on building railways in Jiangxi and Yunnan provinces and came to work at the current post in the engineering department in November 2022, where Yuan works as a data technician.

They came to know each other in 2017 in Yunnan while Zhu worked as an intern on the Yuxi-Mohan Railway, and began dating in April 2021.

When Zhu was transferred to his current post, Yuan resigned from her original job in February 2023, and joined him in the same department. They got married on April 21 this year.

"We came to see the meaning of our engineering work, and sought a common language," said Zhu, stressing that this is a blessing for them, as they could build a family while at work.

"The beauty of the society makes us even more confident in our future work," said Yuan.

Wang also said that ever since entering the construction site in October 2022, the CREC4 project department has spent over 11 million yuan ($1.54 million) purchasing local vegetables, fruits and other items, as well as daily necessities through targeted procurements.

"To help the residents in Guangxi, we have hired over 1,550 locals for more than 1,000 positions requiring different skills, providing them with salaries exceeding 33 million yuan," Wang said.

"We intend to help them achieve both skills improvement and household income growth, as a way to aid local rural vitalization," he said.