Abstract: It is inevitable for the construction of high-speed railway to encounter deep cutting in mountain areas. And it is easy to damage the local environment with improper scheme and result in frequent geological hazard directly threatening the safety of railway operation. Thus it is important to choose a reasonable alternative of deep cutting or tunnel. The applicability of selecting deep cutting and tunnel are compared and studied in terms of geological condition, environmental impact, construction difficulty, comprehensive economic cost and operation safety, and some suggestions concerning this are put forward.