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□ zibo daily/zibo evening news/bolan news

reporter li xiyu

"i was born in new china, grew up under the red flag, and grew up with the country's progress." wang lizhong was born in 1949 and is 75 years old this year, the same age as the republic.

before the founding of new china, his father, wang guanglu, was a water pump driver in the maintenance workshop of zhangdian locomotive depot. the maintenance work of steam locomotives is quite heavy. wang lizhong still remembers that his father was often urgently summoned in the middle of the night to repair foreign-made locomotives. after the founding of new china, a batch of domestically-made steam locomotives such as "construction type", "people type" and "forward type" were put into use one after another. wang lizhong remembers his father excitedly saying to him: "look, son, this is a train we made ourselves! it is my honor to be able to repair domestically-made trains!"

in 1965, 16-year-old wang lizhong was assigned to the maintenance workshop of the former zhangdian locomotive depot (now merged into qingdao locomotive depot) as a boilerman. "the trains at that time were very slow, stopping and starting. after a long whistle sounded, the steam locomotive with white smoke pulled the green train cars slowly." wang lizhong recalled, "i was responsible for maintaining the locomotive, which was equivalent to maintaining the heart of the steam locomotive." because he was young and weak at the time, facing strict work standards and heavy tasks, he lacked confidence in whether he could do the job. but with the encouragement of his father and master, after several years of training, he soon became a technical expert who could stand on his own. at that time, he participated in the conversion and transformation project from steam equipment to internal combustion equipment, and the scientific equipment transformation met the production needs at the time.

in the 1980s, diesel locomotives gradually replaced steam locomotives and became the main force of railway transportation. the speed of trains began to diversify, such as express trains, direct express trains, special express trains, and emu trains. "compared with steam locomotives, diesel locomotives have greater power, no boilers, and are much more environmentally friendly." in 1996, wang lizhong was promoted to engineer, and the equipment he was responsible for maintaining and managing became more sophisticated. "the external structure of the car body is smoother, the travel speed is faster, and the requirements for our work are also higher."

after retiring in 2009, wang lizhong was rehired to work as a supervisor, continuing to contribute his professional knowledge and skills to the railway. during this period, he participated in the major renovation of the waiting room of zibo railway station. "after the renovation, the waiting room is not only high-end and atmospheric, but also integrates historical and cultural elements, giving it more urban cultural imprints."

during the interview, the reporter found that wang lizhong had piles of teaching notes. he told the reporter that in 1972, he was recommended by his unit to study at the then shandong institute of technology. "the development of railways is supported by the strong support of scientific and technological progress, and we also need to keep learning." after graduating in 1975, he founded the "july 21" workers' university with full enthusiasm under the organization of his unit, taught basic electrical engineering courses, and trained more than 30 students.

today, wang lizhong's son has also become a railway maintenance worker. through communication with his son, wang lizhong found that the working environment and working methods of the railway department are very different from those in the past, and maintenance work pays more attention to informationization, digitization, and intelligence. wang lizhong often discusses the development of railways with his son, and takes high-speed trains with his family to experience the new changes in transportation. "the current fuxing train can reach a speed of 350 kilometers per hour, which is the fastest in the world." the old man couldn't hide his joy and pride.

the journey is long. from the 30 km/h steam locomotive to today's 350 km/h high-speed fuxing emu; from on-site ticket purchase, telephone ticket booking to online ticket purchase; from long distances and slow trains to the world being close, from relying on foreign technology to china's high-speed rail leading the way... "it is the greatest honor for me to witness the rapid development of the railway industry in new china," said wang lizhong.