East-West Questions | Liu Yagang: What impact have China’s high-speed rail stations had on the world’s railway architecture?
2024-08-10
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China News Service, Harbin, August 9th, Title: What impact has China's high-speed rail station building had on the world's railway construction?
——Interview with Liu Yagang, Chief Architect of China Railway Fifth Survey and Design Institute
China News Service reporter Shi Yifu
With the rapid development of China's high-speed railway, high-speed railway station buildings are like flowers dotted on the "eight vertical and eight horizontal" road network, becoming the "new business card" of cities that drives regional transportation, economic development and promotes cultural exchanges.
From "exploration" to "maturity", from "functional layout" to "cultural integration", how to create excellent examples of "scattered" station building design, and how can Chinese station buildings go global with high-speed rail technology? China Railway Fifth Survey and Design Institute has participated in the design of nearly 100 station buildings. Its chief architect Liu Yagang recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Service's "East-West Questions" on this.
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Service reporter: From "exploration" to "maturity", what kind of development process have China's railway station buildings experienced?
Liu Yagang:The iterative development of China's railway passenger stations has a very clear thread of inheritance and innovation.
During the exploration period, a number of "practical, economical and beautiful" railway passenger stations were built after the founding of New China. They played an important historical role in the context of the reconstruction of the country at that time. Influenced by economic and technical conditions, except for a small number of extra-large railway stations, most stations were small in scale and simple in function, and the station design was characterized by stylization and formalization. The representative railway station of this period was the Beijing Railway Station built in 1959. As the first railway passenger station built after the founding of New China, it had a profound impact on the design of Chinese railway stations for a long period of time.
During the transition period, after the reform and opening up, with the rapid development of China's economy and society, railway passenger stations ushered in a construction boom. Influenced by advanced foreign design concepts and experience, the design concepts and methods of China's railway station buildings have quietly changed, showing a flourishing trend in functional layout and architectural form. Shanghai Station adopted an elevated waiting and north-south two-way entry mode for the first time, setting a precedent for large railway passenger stations; Beijing West Station and Hangzhou Station have formed architectural forms characterized by large passenger complexes, and the prototype of a comprehensive transportation hub has begun to emerge. The continuous change of concepts and rapid technological progress have laid a solid foundation for the high-speed rail era.
During the prosperous period, entering the 21st century, high-speed railway stations have deeply combined advanced technology, regional culture, human experience, and the cognition and practice of future comprehensive transportation. During this period, railway passenger stations were represented by Beijing South Station, Shanghai Hongqiao Station, and Hangzhou West Station. Generally speaking, they presented the characteristics of "three-dimensional transportation, compact functions, convenient transfers, and intensive space". While improving functions, the people-oriented concept was deepened, and passenger station construction paid more attention to the needs and feelings of passengers. The railway passenger station has achieved two major changes: from "a single railway passenger transport place" to "comprehensive transportation hub", and from "managing passengers" to "serving passengers".
The high-speed railway station designed by Liu Yagang. Photo provided by China Railway Fifth Survey and Design Institute
According to data published in Architectural Practice, a journal of the Architectural Society of China, by the end of 2023, from the snowy forests to the water towns of the south of the Yangtze River, from the desert to the shores of the East China Sea, China's high-speed rail has covered more than 96% of cities with a population of more than 500,000, and it is estimated that 1,944 passenger stations have been built, including 1,265 high-speed railway stations and 679 conventional railway stations. After the continuous efforts of several generations of railway workers, high-speed railway stations have achieved historical changes from "nothing to something" and "from catching up to advanced", and have achieved fruitful theoretical and practical results, promoting the organic connection of various modes of transportation. The overall level of China's high-speed railway station buildings in terms of construction concepts, planning and design, engineering construction, and operation management has entered the ranks of the world's advanced countries.
China News Service: What major technical difficulties have been overcome in the development of China's high-speed railway station design? What breakthrough technological innovations have been achieved?
Liu Yagang:With the rapid development of China's high-speed rail technology and construction, the key technologies for railway passenger station construction are also being upgraded, and a series of technical topics and innovative research and experiments are being carried out to contribute to the goal of "building a strong transportation country with railways first". During this period, some breakthrough technological innovations have emerged.
The integrated construction and bridge technology comprehensively combines railway tracks, bridges and building structures, overcoming the difficult problem of the impact of train vibration on the structure, making the station building and station facilities seamlessly connected, and improving space utilization and traffic efficiency.
The column-free canopy technology places canopy columns between railway lines to form an overall frame structure, which improves stability and wind resistance, improves platform access conditions, and enhances passengers' entry and exit experience and efficiency.
The double-decker parking lot and roof development technology saves land and energy, and further expands the commercial value of the passenger station while meeting the passenger transport function.
Fire-fighting technology has achieved a large span and high visibility of the waiting space, providing a new open and transparent waiting space, improving the waiting environment for passengers and enhancing the waiting experience for passengers.
Smart passenger station technology enables “paperless” entry and exit through card swiping and facial recognition, improving travel efficiency and service quality.
The high-speed railway station designed by Liu Yagang. Photo provided by China Railway Fifth Survey and Design Institute
China News Service: From "functional layout" to "cultural integration", what is the internal driving force behind the leapfrog development of China's high-speed railway stations?
Liu Yagang:The leapfrog development of China's high-speed railway stations in terms of functional layout, cultural integration and design innovation contains multiple internal driving forces.
Policy support and investment drive. Railway is an important national transportation infrastructure and a major livelihood project. The country has always actively supported the construction of high-speed railways and regarded it as a key project of infrastructure construction. In particular, the planning of "strengthening the country through transportation, with railways taking the lead" has encouraged and promoted design innovation and functional optimization.
Urban development and social needs. With the acceleration of China's urbanization process, the concept of urban development and construction has been further promoted. At the same time, the same-city effect, agglomeration effect, and siphon effect generated by high-speed rail can strengthen the social and economic ties between cities. On the basis of meeting actual operational needs, it can showcase the city's image and cultural heritage, lead urban renewal and industrial upgrading, and make the construction of railway passenger stations widely recognized by local governments and the general public.
Meeting people's needs for a better life. Railway passenger stations are not only important railway passenger transport hubs, but also important carriers for meeting people's yearning for a better life as the city's transportation portal and the first interface for passenger services.
In summary, the internal driving forces for the leapfrog development of China's high-speed railway station buildings are multifaceted. These driving forces jointly promote the continuous progress and improvement of high-speed railway station building design, and inject strong vitality into China's high-speed railway construction.
China News Service: What impact has China's high-speed railway station building had on the world's railway architecture? Is there room for improvement?
Liu Yagang:In recent years, China's high-speed railway station buildings have made remarkable progress in scale, design, technology and function, which has had a profound impact on the world's railway architecture and made important contributions to the global railway station building design. This is mainly reflected in the following aspects.
In terms of scale and speed, the speed and scale of China's high-speed rail station construction are impressive. The construction of large-scale high-speed rail networks and stations demonstrates efficient engineering management and construction technology, providing valuable experience for other countries.
In terms of design concepts, China's high-speed rail station buildings widely adopt modern design concepts, combined with advanced technologies and materials, embodying the unity of functionality, aesthetics and culture.
In terms of intelligence and convenience, many Chinese high-speed rail stations have adopted intelligent systems, such as self-service ticketing, smart navigation, and security inspection systems, which have greatly improved the travel experience of passengers. These technologies provide a reference for the intelligent development of railway stations around the world.
In terms of integrated transportation, China's high-speed rail station design has realized the function of an integrated transportation hub, that is, seamless connection between aviation and station rail transit, buses, taxis and other modes of transportation, thereby improving transportation efficiency. This integrated design concept has also provided a reference for other countries.
The high-speed railway station designed by Liu Yagang. Photo provided by China Railway Fifth Survey and Design Institute
At present, there is still room for further improvement and enhancement in China's high-speed railway station construction in some areas.
The first is sustainable development. In terms of environmental protection and energy conservation, future high-speed rail stations can consider using more green building materials and renewable energy to further reduce carbon footprint.
The second is the integrity of urban functions. Through integrated planning and design of stations and cities, a comprehensive and multi-dimensional transportation system will be built to enrich and improve the urban functions of stations, coordinate the integrated development of stations and cities, and promote urban renewal and industrial upgrading.
The third is international cooperation and standardization. Through international cooperation and standardization, we will promote global standards for the design and construction of high-speed railway stations and improve the overall level of global railway construction.
In short, China's high-speed railway station buildings have not only improved the efficiency and service level of the domestic railway system, but also provided valuable experience and examples for the world's railway construction. In the future, through continuous innovation and improvement, China's high-speed railway station buildings will continue to play an important role in the global railway construction field. (End)
About the interviewee:
Liu Yagang, chief architect of China Railway Fifth Survey and Design Institute. Photo provided by the interviewee
Liu Yagang, Chief Architect, Senior Engineer, and National First-Class Registered Architect of China Railway Fifth Survey and Design Institute, has been committed to the planning and architectural design creation and practice of railway transportation hubs for a long time. He has presided over the planning and design of more than 40 large and medium-sized railway passenger stations and comprehensive transportation hubs such as Changsha West Station, Nanyang East Station, Xuzhou East Station, Mudanjiang Station, and Lushan Station, and has won more than ten national and provincial and ministerial excellent designs.
