The country's high-speed railways are showing rapid growth

With adequate financial support, construction of key infrastructure is progressing

The nation's relentless drive to improve its infrastructure is paying off, with several high-speed railway projects completed and operational.

In Fujian province, the Longyan-Wuping section of the Longyan-Longchuan high-speed railway began operations on December 26.

The opening of the section marks a transformative leap for Fujian's Wuping County, as the old revolutionary site has stepped into the era of HSR connectivity, said builders involved in the project.

Construction of the 92-kilometer section, carried out by several state contractors, presented several „significantly challenging engineering tasks” such as the Tingjiang River Railway Bridge.

Built by China Railway 24th Bureau Group Corp., the bridge is 1.73 km long and has a 325-meter continuous solid frame girder spanning the river, which is a remarkable technical and construction achievement, Yi Jun said. Engineer with CR24.

The project team used Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology to simulate collisions involving beam reinforcements and prestressed pipes, ensuring optimal reinforcement and shear levels and guaranteeing the project's engineering quality, Yi said.

Also, several monitoring devices, intelligent tensioning and grouting techniques were used to safeguard overall construction quality, he said.

„All of our teams have been asked to keep 'green construction' in mind in the projects we implement across the country, and the company prioritizes environmental protection when evaluating project quality,” said Yi, adding that CR24 is increasingly implementing environmentally friendly construction practices to minimize any impact.

The Longyan-Longchuan High Speed ​​Railway has a total length of 290 km from Longyan in Fujian to Longchuan West Station in Heyuan, Guangdong Province.

The Longyan-Wuping section is one of the three sections along the HSR. About 64 km of track was newly built, allowing trains to run at a speed of 250 km/h.

The HSR project is part of the country's broader drive to build an „eight vertical and eight horizontal” railway network as its main high-speed rail network, which was proposed by the central authorities in 2016. Period.

China Railway Group, the country's railway operator, has so far put 35,300 km of trains into service on the country's main HSR network, which accounts for 80 percent of the network's total length.

During the annual Central Economic Work Conference held in Beijing in December, Chinese leaders should improve investment and financing mechanisms, implement new cooperation mechanisms for state and non-state capital, and support non-state capital in participating in new types of infrastructure. attempts.

Due to insufficient funding to support the sector, many provinces announced new operations of HSRs by the end of last year. Shandong province, for example, has adopted the operation of two new HSR sections – the Jinan-Puyang section on the Jinan-Zhengzhou HSR and the Lixi-Rongcheng section on the Weifang-Rongcheng HSR.

Such mass infrastructure job completions at the end of the year have become a regular occurrence in recent years, experts said.

„With plenty of capital flowing into the infrastructure sector last year, key projects such as HSR construction will continue to see growing growth in the first several months of this year,” said Long Chaocan, investment adviser at China Galaxy Securities Co Ltd.

During January-November last year, 1,636 km of new rail lines were commissioned across the country, including 1,488 km of HSR tracks. By the end of November, the operating mileage of railways across the country had reached 155,500 km, including 43,700 km of HSR, the China Railway Group said.