Shandong's high-speed rail network stands atop the national rankings, with coastal high-speed rail construction entering a new era of fervent activity. The national high-speed rail landscape continues to evolve dramatically.

On December 29, 2024, construction commenced on the Guangxi segment of the Hefei-Zhanjiang high-speed rail, extending from Hepu County, Beihai City, Guangxi, traversing Tieshangang Bay to the east, and terminating in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province.

On December 23, 2024, the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee held a press conference revealing that next year will witness the acceleration of numerous major projects, including the Wenzhou-Fuzhou high-speed rail linking Wenzhou, Zhejiang, with Fuzhou, Fujian.

Earlier, on February 4, construction began on the entire Zhangzhou-Shantou high-speed rail (Zhangzhou, Fujian - Shantou, Guangdong), scheduled to open in 2028.

Even prior to that, in 2022, construction commenced on the Tongsu-Jiaxing-Ningbo high-speed rail and the Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway between Ningbo and Nantong, with plans for completion and opening in 2027 and 2028, respectively.

Notably, among these cross-sea high-speed rail projects, the Hefei-Zhanjiang, Wenzhou-Fuzhou, Zhangzhou-Shantou, and Tongsu-Jiaxing-Ningbo high-speed rails all fall under the coastal corridor, one of the "eight vertical" corridors outlined in the country's 2016 Medium- and Long-Term Railway Network Plan.

2016 Medium- and Long-Term Railway Network Plan coastal corridor roadmap

The coastal corridor stretches from Liaoning in the north to Guangxi in the south, with a planned total length exceeding 4,000 kilometers. Key cities include Dalian (Dandong), Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Dongying, Weifang, Qingdao (Yantai), Lianyungang, Yancheng, Nantong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Shenzhen, Zhanjiang, and Beihai (Fangchenggang).

Lines involving Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian, and other provinces are designed to operate at speeds of nearly 350 kilometers per hour.

High-speed rails in Shandong, such as the Tianjin-Weifang, Weifang-Yantai, Qingdao-Rongcheng Intercity, and Qingdao-Yancheng, also operate at 350 kilometers per hour. The Weifang-Yantai high-speed rail opened in October last year, while the Tianjin-Weifang high-speed rail is currently under construction.

However, the Qingdao-Rongcheng Intercity Railway and Qingdao-Yancheng Railway, both passing through Qingdao, operate at speeds of only 250 kilometers per hour and 200 kilometers per hour, respectively.

According to the plan, the national "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed rail network will be fully completed by around 2028.

In other words, by 2028, along the coastal corridor connecting economically developed provinces such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Shandong Peninsula, Yangtze River Delta, West Coast of the Taiwan Strait, and Pearl River Delta, only a few segments related to Qingdao will lack 350-kilometer-per-hour high-speed rail.

With the approval of Qingdao's new territorial spatial plan, Qingdao's efforts to secure coastal high-speed rail construction have entered a new window of opportunity. As an "important coastal center city, a modern maritime city, and an international comprehensive transportation hub," Qingdao's overall railway hub status will be elevated, and transportation infrastructure will continue to improve.

Against this backdrop, Qingdao must seize the opportunity, strive for the construction of projects like the Qingdao-Lianyungang-Yancheng high-speed rail and Jiaozhou Bay sea-crossing channel, and establish a more convenient coastal corridor heading south.

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Currently, except for the section north of Tianjin, most sections of the coastal high-speed rail south of Tianjin have been completed, opened to traffic, or are under construction.

Among them, the Qingdao-Rongcheng Intercity Railway and Qingdao-Yancheng Railway, both passing through Qingdao, were fully opened to traffic in November 2016 and December 2018, respectively.

The Jiangmen-Zhanjiang Railway in Guangdong Province opened in July 2018, while the Shanghai-Suzhou-Tongzhou Railway between Shanghai and Nantong opened in July 2020.

In terms of speed, many of these early-opened lines are mixed passenger and freight, resulting in lower speeds. For instance, the Qingdao-Yancheng Railway, Jiangmen-Zhanjiang Railway, and Shanghai-Suzhou-Tongzhou Railway all operate at 200 kilometers per hour.

Conversely, lines that have opened or are newly constructed in the past two years are mostly high-speed rails operating at 350 kilometers per hour.

For example, the Tongsu-Jiaxing-Ningbo high-speed rail commenced construction in November 2022 and is scheduled to open in 2027.

The Tongsu-Jiaxing-Ningbo high-speed rail is a crucial intercity corridor and link in the Yangtze River Delta region. It starts from Nantong West Station, crosses the Yangtze River to the south via the Shanghai-Suzhou-Tongzhou Yangtze River Highway and Railway Bridge, passes through Suzhou and Jiaxing, and crosses Hangzhou Bay (29.158 kilometers across the sea) via the Hangzhou Bay Cross-Sea Railway Bridge to enter Ningbo City. The total operating length of the main line is 310.027 kilometers.

With a total investment of 108.1 billion yuan, the Tongsu-Jiaxing-Ningbo high-speed rail is a substantial investment project. The key control project, the Hangzhou Bay Cross-Sea Railway Bridge, is currently the longest and highest-standard high-speed railway cross-sea bridge under construction in the world, with a design service life of 100 years for its main structure.

Another example is the Ningbo-Guangzhou high-speed rail, a vital line of the coastal corridor and a key project for rapidly connecting the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta economic circles. The entire line spans approximately 1,500 kilometers and is constructed in six segments, all operating at 350 kilometers per hour. Upon opening, the travel time from Ningbo to Guangzhou will be reduced to just 5.5 hours, further strengthening connections among coastal cities in Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong.

Currently, the Fuzhou-Zhangzhou, Shantou-Shanwei, and Shanwei-Guangzhou sections of the Ningbo-Guangzhou high-speed rail are operational, construction has commenced on the Zhangzhou-Shantou section, and the Wenzhou-Fuzhou section, also known as the Wenzhou-Fuzhou high-speed rail, will commence construction in 2025.

However, the Ningbo-Taizhou-Wenzhou high-speed rail, part of the Ningbo-Wenzhou section of the Ningbo-Guangzhou high-speed rail, is progressing slowly and is one of the few "difficult" projects along the coastal corridor.

According to the original plan, construction of the Ningbo-Taizhou-Wenzhou high-speed rail was scheduled to commence at the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period. In late 2024, a public announcement by the Fuzhou Development and Reform Commission revealed that the Wenzhou-Fuzhou high-speed rail will commence construction as early as 2025.

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Behind the accelerated construction of coastal high-speed rail in provinces like Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Fujian, the collaboration and active efforts of local governments are crucial driving forces.

For instance, the Hefei-Zhanjiang high-speed rail, which commenced construction at the end of last year, was included in the Medium- and Long-Term Railway Network Plan (2008 Adjustment) in 2008 and received environmental impact assessment approval in 2014, with a construction standard of 200 kilometers per hour for mixed passenger and freight transportation. Due to subsequent economic development needs, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the Guangdong Provincial Government negotiated with the China Railway Corporation to upgrade the Hefei-Zhanjiang Railway to a 350 km/h passenger-dedicated line.

In May 2023, the National Development and Reform Commission approved the feasibility report for the adjustment of the Hefei-Zhanjiang high-speed rail to a 350 km/h passenger-dedicated line. After previously being included in the "14th Five-Year Plan for Railway Development" as an "under-construction high-speed rail corridor," the Hefei-Zhanjiang high-speed rail moved one step closer to commencing construction.

Following the "upgrade" of the Hefei-Zhanjiang high-speed rail, the total investment and design standards have significantly increased, with a total investment of approximately 27.68 billion yuan, an increase of over 10 billion yuan compared to the 2014 plan.

By the end of last year, construction commenced on the Guangxi section of the Hefei-Zhanjiang high-speed rail. The main line of this route is 139.33 kilometers long and is scheduled to open in 2028, further promoting the integration of the Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Ningbo's active efforts to connect the Hangzhou Bay Cross-Sea Railway with the Tongsu-Jiaxing Intercity Railway to construct the Tongsu-Jiaxing-Ningbo high-speed rail are also noteworthy.

In 2008, the Hangzhou Bay Cross-Sea Railway connecting Ningbo and Jiaxing was included in the national medium- and long-term railway network plan. However, the construction of the Tongsu-Jiaxing Intercity Railway was uncertain and had been shelved since the feasibility study report for the route was reviewed in 2011.

Under these circumstances, Ningbo actively sought support from the China Railway Corporation to connect the Hangzhou Bay Cross-Sea Railway Jiaxing (Ganpu) scheme with the Tongsu-Jiaxing high-speed rail. In April 2019, the pre-feasibility study of the Tongsu-Jiaxing-Ningbo Railway passed the review, and in 2022, the project officially received approval from the National Development and Reform Commission.

The Tongsu-Jiaxing-Ningbo high-speed rail is of great significance to Ningbo. Upon opening, Ningbo will achieve a "one-hour transportation circle" with Shanghai, Suzhou, and surrounding urban agglomerations for the first time.

For Jiangsu as a whole, the Tongsu-Jiaxing-Ningbo high-speed rail fills a crucial gap in Jiangsu's coastal corridor.

This is because the current coastal corridor in Jiangsu is primarily composed of the Qingdao-Yancheng Railway, Yancheng-Nantong high-speed rail, and Shanghai-Suzhou-Tongzhou Railway. Among these, only the Yancheng-Nantong high-speed rail operates at 350 kilometers per hour. However, in actual operations, due to the speeds of only 200 kilometers per hour on the Qingdao-Yancheng Railway and Shanghai-Suzhou-Tongzhou Railway, the Yancheng-Nantong high-speed rail struggles to fully leverage its speed advantage.

As a north-south linear high-speed rail between Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the Tongsu-Jiaxing-Ningbo high-speed rail, upon opening and connection with the Yancheng-Nantong high-speed rail, will establish a faster coastal corridor in Jiangsu, benefiting the northern part of the province, which currently lacks adequate high-speed rail connections.

Tongsu-Jiaxing-Ningbo Railway route diagram

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Recognizing its shortcomings in coastal high-speed rail, Qingdao is also planning to construct a coastal high-speed rail line extending south to Jiangsu.

Last October, the Qingdao Municipal Transport Bureau issued a competitive negotiation announcement for the Qingdao Railway Hub Layout Planning Research Project on the China Government Procurement Website, proposing to "further demonstrate the necessity of projects such as the Qingdao-Lianyungang-Yancheng high-speed rail and Qingdao-Pingdu-Laiyang Railway."

Among them, the Qingdao-Lianyungang-Yancheng high-speed rail represents the most convenient route for Qingdao to travel south along the coastal high-speed rail. Upon completion and connection with lines such as the Yancheng-Nantong high-speed rail, the travel time from Qingdao to the Yangtze River Delta region will be significantly reduced, with the travel time to Shanghai expected to be shortened from 5 hours to within 3 hours.

From the perspective of the overall construction of the national coastal corridor, with the opening of the Weifang-Yantai high-speed rail and the planned opening of the Tianjin-Weifang high-speed rail in 2027, the construction of the Qingdao-Lianyungang-Yancheng high-speed rail appears highly necessary, as it will help push the coastal corridor towards true full-length operation at a standard speed of 350 kilometers per hour.

Especially with the rapid development of Qingdao Port and Rizhao Port, it has become imperative to strengthen coordination and collaboration between the two ports through cross-sea high-speed rail.

Taking inspiration from the Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway, its construction is closely tied to the deep integration of the Ningbo-Zhoushan ports and the development of the Ningbo-Zhoushan National Bulk Commodity Storage and Transportation Base.

However, compared to the Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway, which was included in the "Ningbo Railway Hub Master Plan" as early as 2005 and the national plan in 2008, the Jiaozhou Bay sea-crossing railway, still in the demonstration stage and not yet included in the national plan, has a long way to go before implementation. The top priority is to first include it in the 15th Five-Year Plan related to the transportation sector.