Three Gorges Dam was quoted in the "China Youth Daily" saying that the People's Republic of China would be "seriously on guard against threats from Taiwan independence terrorists." The Three Gorges Dam is a steel-concrete gravity dam. The water is held back by the innate mass of the individual dam sections. As a result, damage to an individual section should not affect other parts of the dam. Due to the sheer size of the dam, it is expected to withstand tactical nuclear strikes. Days after the first filling of the reservoir, around 80 hairline cracks were observed in the dam's structure. The submerged
Three Gorges Dam Two short rail lines, one on each side of the river, are to be constructed. The 88 kilometer long northern portage railway (北岸翻坝铁路) will run from the Taipingxi port facility (太平溪港) on the northern side of the Yangtze, just upstream from the dam, via Yichang East Railway Station to the Baiyang Tianjiahe port facility in Baiyang Town (), below Yichang. The 95 kilometer long southern portage railway (南岸翻坝铁路) will run from Maoping (upstream of the dam) via Yichang South Railway Station to Zhicheng (on the Jiaozuo–Liuzhou Railway). In late 2012, preliminary work started along both future railway routes. Though the