Guangzhou–Zhuhai Railway

Role

The railway is used for freight transportation only, with the possibility of introducing some passenger trains later on. It will consists of a total length of 186 kilometers and 11 stations. Trains will travel at an estimated 120 km/h.

Until the 21st century, Zhuhai did not have any railway connections to the rest of the country. Now, however, there are two new railways there: besides the Guangzhou–Zhuhai Railway for freight trains, the passenger-only Guangzhou–Zhuhai Intercity Railway, is a passenger-only line, started construction in 2005 and was to be completed in 2010. Since the intercity rail will take up the role of the passenger service between Guangzhou and Zhuhai, this can explain why Guangzhou–Zhuhai Railway will not be routed via Guangzhou City Area.

History

This railway project was approved by the State Development Planning Commission in 1993. The construction originally started in 1997, but it was stopped later due to lack of funds. Construction was resumed in 2007; at the time, it was expected to be completed in 2011. However, work did not proceeded as fast as expected; as of December 2011, it was reported that although most of the critical components of the project was completed, there was still about 100 m to go at the Jiangmen tunnel (see below), and the Jiangbei Bridge was still under construction.

In mid-October 2012, it was reported that the construction work has been essentially completed. The railway opened for freight traffic on December 30, 2012.

Jiangmen tunnel

Constructing the railway involves digging a 9185 m long tunnel in Jiangmen. By May 2010, over half of the tunnel had been dug, and the entire tunnel was expected to be completed by the end of February 2011. However, as of December 2011 it was reported that the workers still had about 100 m to go.