CHINA Railway (CR) has released the new national timetable that will be introduced on October 11. The new timetable will see over 13,000 passenger services and over 23,000 freight trains operating on the national network each day.

The opening of the Shenyang - Changbaishan section of the Shenyang - Jiamusi high-speed line on September 28, just a few days after trial passenger operation commenced with a limited service, adds 64 services per day on the route from as far away as Beijing and Shenyang, as well as from nearer locations, including Fushun and Tongbai. The fastest Shenyang to Changbaishan service now takes 1h 53min, down from 4h 23min. This new route has also enabled the addition of Changchun North - Changchun services, amongst other changes.

Another new line opening on September 28 was the 350km/h Xiangyang - Jingmen high-speed line in Hubei province in central China. Testing on this 116km line commenced earlier in the summer. The new line adds 26 daily services as well as four circular services that start and end in Hankou station in Wuhan, taking advantage of the closing of a rail loop to the northwest of Wuhan that the new line provides.

Chongqing - Qianjiang

The opening in late June of the Chongqing East - Qianjiang section of the Chongqing - Xiamen high-speed line enables 54 services to operate daily, boosting connectivity between Chongqing and central southern cities such as Changsha and Nanchang.

The increasing deployment of high-speed trains running at 350km/h means that the Beijing - Harbin and Hangzhou - Changsha routes will have some faster end-to-end services with fewer stops in the new timetable. 

New inter-city services will be introduced from Nanjing East to Zengcheng West, and from Wangjiaying West to Longchuan North, bringing the total number of inter-city services in the country to 130. New tourist trains with a variety of themes are also scheduled in the new timetable, ranging from health tours to parent-child study tours.

More freight trains

An extra 173 intermodal trains are scheduled in the new timetable from Guangzhou International Port to Yuci, Dezhou to Wuxi South, and Jinhua East to Nanning South, an increase of 28 services.

A total of 24 long-distance freight trains will join those already operating on major trunk routes such as Beijing - Shenzhen/Kowloon and Golmud - Lhasa, with additional services on the Haoji, Wanji and Daqin heavy-haul lines to ensure continuity of coal supply during the winter months. There are 93 scheduled freight trains to Europe and 57 to Central Asia, with 17 of those to Europe operating weekly.

New line construction

Construction of the 303km Fuzhou - Wenzhou high-speed line commenced on September 29. Approved by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in July, the 350km/h line has 11 stations and is expected to take five years to build.

Construction of the new Shanghai East - Hangzhou West high-speed line that will serve Pudong Airport in Shanghai started simultaneously at two sites on September 29.

At Situan station in Shanghai, work to add a high-speed facility started, and in Jiaxing in Zhejiang province, construction of the 12km-long Jiatong Bridge commenced. The new structure will span the Shanghai - Kunming high-speed line, several roads and a waterway.

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