CR24 speeds up Jiangxi-Fujian rail

Passenger and freight railway services between inland Jiangxi province and coastal Fujian province will be more convenient, as the railway between Qingliu station, Jiangxi, and Quanzhou station, Fujian, is seeing accelerated steps toward official operation later this year.

China Railway 24th Bureau Group Corp Ltd (CR24), a unit of the State-owned China Railway Construction Corp, said test trains have been running on the Xingguo-Quanzhou Railway.

The dynamic test consists of several trial runs to examine a series of key operational processes including passenger services, electrical services and the power system, said Ma Wei, an engineer on the CR24 test team.

Test trains will run at different speeds on the new rails－80 kilometers per hour, 100km/h, 120km/h and 160km/h－and the team will collect all of the data recorded for future analysis to ensure safe operations, Ma said.

With a total length of 464.2 kilometers and a designed speed of 160 km/h, the Xingguo-Quanzhou Railway aims to facilitate regional connectivity between the two provinces, and help the older inland cities along the way tackle long-endured transportation woes.

"It is a rail built with tough efforts－almost 90 percent of the project is the construction work of the tunnels and bridges," Fan Zupei, a project manager with CR24, said.

"Rails of the Qingliu-Quanzhou section pass through mountainous areas and are laid on or through many fault zones where geological conditions vary greatly.

"The team has been aware of the potential damage to the environment during the whole construction process. Also, we have to be alert to the COVID-19 resurgences. We have indeed overcome a lot to see the project get this far," Fan said.

According to CR24, the Xingguo-Qingliu section has been put into operation last year, while the Qingliu-Quanzhou section, which is 289.95 km long, is supposed to open for passengers this September, linking 18 stations throughout Fujian and Jiangxi provinces.

CR24 has been making efforts in infrastructure projects nationwide, especially by leveraging its edge in rail construction, to improve livelihoods and shore up economic momentum, echoing the nation's plans for the sector highlighted by the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25).

"As the nation seeks high-quality development in various sectors, and with infrastructure shouldering many key tasks this year, including expanding domestic demand, helping job seekers and giving impetus to the economy, it's even more urgent and necessary to enhance the infrastructure, both in traditional and 'new infrastructure' sectors, to support and gather speed for the transformation process," said Fan Ruoying, a researcher at Bank of China.

Improved infrastructure will push forward the nation's urbanization progress and smoothen domestic circulation, paving the way for the building of a unified market, Fan said.

Zhu Xuehan contributed to this story.