八年探索，经手几十万个零件， 从“门外汉”到复兴号总设计师 | Bullet Train Designer

Guo Yao, 41, was born in Xi'an City, the capital of China's northwestern Shaanxi Province. Having been the supervisor and technical manager of many important railway projects, he is now the chief designer of Fuxing bullet trains.

郭鹞，41岁，西安人。他是“复兴号”动车组的总设计师，还担任过多个重要高速列车项目的技术经理和主管。

This leading figure actually used to be a total outsider in the industry eight years ago.

何曾想到，这位中国高铁的领军人物，在8年前还是一个“外行人”。

"One day, my father was doing farm work, when he saw a hawk hovering above in the sky. So he named my elder sister Ying (hawk in Chinese), and me Yao (harrier)," Guo said. "We were named after the birds of prey. My father didn't go to college during the Cultural Revolution. He hoped we could fulfill his dream."

“我父亲在农村干活的时候，看见天上的老鹰在飞，所以，他给我姐起名叫郭鹰，我就叫郭鹞。鹰、鹞都是凶猛的鸟。父亲文革时没有参加成高考，他就把理想寄托在我们身上。”

Guo Yao (left), his father and his sister Guo Ying (right) /Photo courtesy of Guo Yao.

Guo was admitted to the PLA Xi'an Communication College in 1998. After graduating, he worked as a teacher and a computer salesman but felt that he had another calling. Therefore in 2002, he went to study aeronautical radio technology at the National Aviation University in Ukraine. 

1998年，郭鹞如愿考入中国人民解放军西安通讯学院。毕业之后，他当过老师，卖过电脑，发现这并非自己理想的生活方式。于是，2002年，他前往乌克兰国立航空大学学习航空无线电技术。

"I saw the news about the opening of Beijing-Tianjin intercity railway in 2008, the first high-speed railway in China," Guo said. "I felt overwhelmingly excited and proud. Although I didn't think about working in the railway field at the time and preferred jobs related to aviation."

“2008年，我在新闻里看到中国的京津城际开通。那是中国第一条高速铁路，那个时候感觉特别震撼，挺自豪的。不过我当时没想从事这个行业，更倾向于对口的航空类工作。”

Guo Yao at his graduation ceremony at the National Aviation University in Ukraine, 2002 /Photo courtesy of Guo Yao.

After returning to China, Guo got married and looked for jobs near his wife's home. He found that CRRC (China's state-owned train manufacturer) Tangshan was hiring.

不过，归国成家后的郭鹞在寻找离妻子家近的单位时，发现中车唐山正在招聘。

"The offer was great, so I took it. By the time I joined the company, it had been producing the bullet trains already."

“各种条件基本上差不多都能挺满足我的，然后我就来这里了。那时候，公司已经开始生产和谐号动车组了。”

A career change is never easy. Only six months into his stint at the company, Guo was ordered to draw the electric plan for the design of the high-speed comprehensive inspection trains.

从航空转行到铁路，不是一件容易的事情。入职半年，他被要求绘制高速检测列车研发过程中的电气平面图。

"I wasn't familiar with the software in the first place, not to mention the design specifications or requirements for the new type of train. So it was quite an arduous and stressful task to me."

“首先软件我不熟，然后设计的规则、标准我不熟，新车型设计的要求我也不是太熟悉。所以对我来说，这是一个很艰巨的任务，压力非常大。”

Guo Yao at work /by CGTN

Guo had to consult with experienced colleagues frequently and study the specifications from the archives, while he learned to use the mapping software. The final plan was finished in a month. 

为了克服困难，郭鹞除了频繁地请教前辈，还找出了许多历史图纸，一条一条地研究其中的设计标准，学习使用以前从未接触过的绘图软件。花了一个月，电气平面图终于完成。

"The plan was the basis for the whole design. Had there been any errors, it would be problematic for other designers," said Guo. "I became more confident because of the plan. It was a good start."

“这个图是整个设计的基础。如果我画的有错误，就会影响其他设计师的工作。” 郭鹞说，“在设计完这个图之后，我的信心倍增。它是一个很好的起点。”

From then on, Guo was assigned all kinds of design jobs for the Hexie bullet trains, including the design and testing of the electrical system, plus solving problems on site. Through the processes of design, production, testing and product delivery, he's always there on the train.

就这样，郭鹞陆续参与到和谐号动车组设计的各个方面，包括电气系统的设计、实验测试和现场问题的解决。从设计、生产、实验到最后交付客户，他一个环节都没落地“跟车”。

"Later I took part in other Hexie train designs such as the models 4S380B and 4S380BL. I gradually got hold of my skills and was capable of taking over the design of Fuxing bullet trains."

“后来，我又参加了4S380B和谐号以及4S380BL和谐号等等这些车型的设计。经过这些锻炼，我慢慢成长，然后接手了复兴号的设计工作。”

CGTN Photo

Problems could emerge in the testing of the trains, no matter how skilled Guo has become or how accurate his design is.  

现在，郭鹞已经成为了总设计师。然而，不论纸上的设计图纸多么精准，实验时总会有这样那样的问题。

"The designers always stay focused, because the trains are for people to take. Safety must come first. Ignoring it, we could lose everything that everyone has been fighting for. It's our reverence for life."

“我们在设计过程中，随时紧绷着一根弦，因为我们知道，这个车是用来坐人的。列车的安全永远是第一位的。如果安全出了问题，那么我们所有的一切，所有的成绩都会付之东流。我们要敬畏天人。”

Before any alteration that might affect the safety of the train, Guo and his team have to conduct thousands of tests. Until the final solution is proved safe and reliable through the repetitive testing and adjusting processes, no change is made to the trains in service.

每一个可能影响列车安全的设计变动，郭鹞和团队都要反复测试几千几万次，在验证与修改后再上车运营，以保证最终的方案的可靠、安全。

"We've installed industrial ethernet devices on Fuxing trains in order to meet the higher demand for data transmission, such as voice, video and CCTV camera. It's a first-time on bullet trains. However, the communication quality was quite poor in the test."

“因为对语音、视频、摄像头记录等数据传输的要求更高，我们在复兴号上使用了工业以太网，这在动车上是第一次。但是，我们在实验过程中发现，通信质量不佳。”

CGTN Photo

To tackle this problem, the mechanics had to climb into the narrow space behind the wind deflectors, cutting off and reconnecting wires for multiple tests among the trains. Finally, they found the cause and rearranged the connector's pins. Problem solved.

为了解决这个问题，工人们反复钻进狭窄的导流罩接线、减线，在不同的车内检测信号质量。最终，他们发现连接器针脚的排序就是“原凶”，通讯故障的问题解决了。

Such a trivial defect took them more than half a month to correct. While there are tens of thousands of components in a Fuxing train, not a single malfunction can be tolerated. As the train's chief designer Guo knows better than anyone that "haste makes waste."  

这样一个细节问题，他们处理了半个多月的时间。复兴号上各式各样的零部件有几十万个，每一个都不能出问题。郭鹞作为总设计师，深谙速成要不得。

"A missing bolt could cause the device to fall off when the train is moving at high speed. One damaged cable could lead to ground fault or short circuit of the entire train. With so many details to pay attention to, I must slow down."

“你一个螺栓丢失了，可能造成高速情况下设备的脱落，你的电缆破损了，可能造成整个列车的接地故障或者造成短路。有很多细节需要斟酌，所以我很慢。”

That kind of "slowness" is exactly what people would like to refer to as the spirit of craftsmanship. Behind this grand railway project of China, are the nation's role models pondering and working on their jobs amid countless operation tests on the tracks.  

但是这种“慢”，正是时下被津津乐道的工匠精神。大国重器的背后，是郭鹞这样的“劳模”们在办公室与车间内的冥思苦想，以及轨道上成千上百次的测试与运营。

"My dream is to achieve with more advanced and innovative technologies what we didn't even dare to think about or take action upon, and what has been deemed as impossible all the time."

“我的梦想就是采用更新更先进的技术，去实现我们以前或者现在不敢想的或者不敢做的，认为不可能实现的事情。”

CGTN Photo

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