TEST running on the Wuhan - Yichang section of the Shanghai - Chongqing - Chengdu high-speed line commenced on August 26. The 313km line is expected to open for revenue service by the end of this month.

The 350km/h east-west line runs from the existing Hankou station in Wuhan, Hubei province, serving new stations at Hanchuan North, Tianmen, Jingshan South, Zhongxiang South, Jingmen West and Dangyang West before terminating at Yichang North, which is also newly built.

The line roughly parallels the Yangtse river and has 88 bridges and viaducts and 25 tunnels. Construction started in September 2021 and track laying was completed in January.

The existing 200km/h Hankou - Yichang line opened in July 2012. The line is very well used - by 119.5 train pairs per day - with EMU services taking about 2 hours for the complete trip. The new alignment will reduce that to one hour, and double capacity.

Nanning - Pingxiang high-speed line

Test-running also started on the Chuongzuo - Pingxiang section of the Nanning - Pingxiang high-speed line in Guangxi province at the end of last month.

Pingxiang is a well-established conventional rail crossing point on the border with Vietnam and is served by conventional services from Nanning and Beijing to Hanoi.

The new 81.5km, 250km/h line will connect the city with the high-speed railway network at Chongzuo South, Ningming East and Longzhou, terminating at Pingxiang East in Pingxiang City. The line will improve Guangxi province’s connectivity with Asean countries and could form the Chinese portion of a future high-speed line to Hanoi.

The northerly Nanning - Chongzuo South section opened in June 2022, with the fastest services currently completing the 121km journey in 47 minutes. Testing of the southern Chongzuo - Pingxiang section is expected to continue until the end of November, ahead of opening for revenue service by the end of the year.

Nanchang East spur opens

A new 21km, 350km/h spur line connecting Nanchang East with Hejia on the Beijing - Hong Kong PDL trunk line in Jiangxi province opened on August 28, one month after the start of testing.

The line is part of the 137.7km Nanchang - Jiujiang high-speed line, one of the eight horizontal and eight vertical trunk routes included in China’s National Rail Plan. It is expected to open in full in 2027, five years after construction began, and will allow many east-west services to avoid transiting Nanchang East.

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