I decided to celebrate May Day, which is both International Workers' Day and International Trespassers' Day, by visiting a construction site near home where they're building an underground bullet train network.
1. Here's a map of the area. My work and home are approximately on the left and right sides of the sign labeled #19. It's a little hard to tell but there's a mountain to the north, and the forest in the lower right is actually a nearly closed US military garrison that's been censored.
2. Here's a picture from last year when the site was a small dirt pit. My office building is visible in the background, on the right with the helipad platform on top.
2.5. And here's a view from that helipad looking back down on this area. The train station is in the center, and to its left is a wide road with several bus lanes, which is where this construction site is.
2.6. Here's a look over that area from the front steps of the train station, back in February. You can see that red arm being used to pour concrete or whatever, somewhere inside the construction site. The white tents in the foreground are for COVID-19 testing.
3. By September, access was much more limited. The only way underground was through this shack. Opening the door triggers sensors that make some loud noises.
4. I noticed the back window was ajar.
5. Looking through, I could see all this entry-recording equipment.
6. The way down was just to the right, and I figured I could possibly crawl through the window and crawl over the railing, bypassing the monitoring. But over a couple attempts, I was unable to do it, one time setting off an alarm.
7. I tried getting a closer picture of the sensors. Somehow that looked like a demonic figure on the panel, rather than a crouched sprinter.
8. Looking straight down through open excavation, it looked like big things were happening.
9. On May Day, I figured the workers would be gone, and after checking all nearby tunnel entrances to see they were locked and unmanned, I proceeded through the window and down the stairs. My goal was to get into that tunnel below.
10. Here it is from inside. It's slanted downward and there's a lot of cement.
11. All the machinery down here was coated with dirt.
12. The passageway slanted downward at a pretty steep angle. I'm guessing this will be an escalator passageway to the train line.
13. Rounding a corner.
14. And I hit a dead end.
15. Going back.
16. The long way up.
17. And up.
18. And up.
Now that I know this entry point works, I should be able to go down more regularly and keep up to date on the tunnel's progress. Hopefully this passage connects with the train tunnel before construction advances too much down there.
