Guangdong becomes the first in China to surpass 3,000 kilometers of high-speed railway

As 2023 draws to a close, the high-speed railway mileage of Guangdong Province has once again hit new heights. On December 26th, the section from Shantou South to Shanwei of the Shantou-Shanwei High-speed Railway officially commenced operations, adding a new major transportation route to the eastern part of Guangdong.

Aerial view of Shantou South Station (Photo by Cai Jiahong from Yangcheng Evening News)

The travel time from Shantou South to Shanwei, Guangzhou East, and Shenzhen North stations is now reduced to a minimum of 36 minutes, 113 minutes, and 109 minutes, respectively. However, the significance of the Shantou-Shanwei High-speed Railway goes beyond that. Its inauguration has propelled Guangdong to become the first province in China with a high-speed railway mileage exceeding 3,000 kilometers.

Data indicates that by the end of 2022, Guangdong had operated a total of 2,788 kilometers of high-speed railway lines with speeds exceeding 200 kilometers per hour.

In 2023, Guangdong opened two new high-speed railway lines. The first was the Guangzhou-Shanwei High-Speed Railway, which commenced operations on September 26th, covering a total length of 200 kilometers. The second was the Shantou-Shanwei High-speed Railway, which opened on December 26th, spanning a total length of 142 kilometers. Based on these additions, the total mileage of high-speed railway lines in Guangdong has now reached 3,130 kilometers, surpassing the 3,000-kilometer threshold ahead of any other province in China. This leads to a clear advantage of 323 kilometers over Shandong, which currently ranks second in terms of total high-speed railway mileage with 2,807 kilometers.

In recent years, railway construction in Guangdong has been in rapid development. With the opening of the Ganzhou-Shenzhen High-Speed Railway on December 10th, 2021, Guangdong achieved the goal of "connecting every city with high-speed railway". Currently, Guangdong is vigorously advancing the construction of major railway corridors such as the Meizhou-Longchuan High-Speed Railway, Guangzhou-Zhanjiang High-Speed Railway, and Shenzhen-Jiangmen High-Speed Railway, bravely forging ahead towards the goal of "connecting every city with high-speed railway of 350 kilometers per hour". It can be foreseen that the extensive railway network will continue to expand across the land of southern Guangdong.

Furthermore, Guangdong recently released a development plan for the construction of five urban clusters, emphasizing the requirement for mutual interaction and integrated development among cities within and outside each urban cluster. The establishment of a dense transportation network, including railways, serves as the foundation and prerequisite for achieving this interconnected objective.

Fuxing bullet train of the Shantou-Shanwei High-speed Railway (Photo by Cai Jiahong from Yangcheng Evening News)

The development of the "GBA on the Rail" is transitioning from a blueprint to reality. It is projected that by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2025), the railway mileage in Guangdong will reach 6,350 kilometers, representing an increase of 1,480 kilometers or 30.3% compared to the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020). Among them, the high-speed railway mileage will reach 3,380 kilometers, accounting for 53.2% of Guangdong's total railway mileage. By then, Guangdong will have established a high-speed railway network that enables travel from Guangzhou to various cities in the Pearl River Delta within one hour, to other prefectural-level cities within two hours, to neighboring provincial capitals within three hours, and to major cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze River Delta, as well as southwestern cities in China within six to eight hours.

Source | Yangcheng Evening News