CHINA: China Railway has started revenue operation on a 278 km section of the Coastal Corridor high speed axis along the west coast of the Taiwan Strait.
Designed for 350 km/h operation, the Fuzhou – Xiamen – Zhangzhou line is expected to boost connectivity in Fujian province, where transport links have long been constrained by its mountainous terrain. Incorporating three substantial cross-sea bridges, the line represents a total investment of 53bn yuan, and has been under construction since September 2017.
The line serves eight stations, at Fuzhou Nan, Fuqing Xi, Putian, Quangang, Quanzhou Dong, Quanzhou Nan, Xiamen Bei and Zhangzhou. Four of these are new.
Public passenger services on the route began running on September 28, when the first train departed from Fuzhou at 09.15. The fastest journey time between Fuzhou and Zhangzhou is 89 min, while the journey time between Fuzhou and Xiamen has been reduced to 55 min, creating a ‘one-hour travelling circle’ between the two cities. China Railway is initially operating eight trains each way per day, but the number of services will be increased to 26 pairs with the next timetable change and to 32 pairs by the end of this year.
Three cross sea bridges
Longest of the cross-sea bridges is the 20·3 km Quanzhou Bay bridge, which includes a 8 960 m section above the sea and was completed in November 2021. The 14·7 km Meizhou Bay bridge includes 10·8 km above the water, and is reported to be the country’s first extradosed cable-stayed bridge on a sea-crossing high speed railway line. The third sea crossing is the 9 460 m Anhai Bay bridge. The longest structure on the line is the 24·7 km Xixi bridge through the city of Zhangzhou, while another 18·7 km viaduct carries the line across the Mulan river valley.
In addition to 85 bridges, there are 33 tunnels accounting for around 15% of the line. The longest bore is the 10 669 m Yangmeishan tunnel, which was holed through in April 2021. The Haiwei tunnel is located between Quanzhou Bay and Meizhou Bay bridges, while Xiangshan Temple tunnel is 1 215 m long. The Xinyunjushan group of tunnels completed in 2020 comprises five separate bores with a combined length of 4 400 m.
The Coastal Corridor is a key axis in the strategy to develop eight vertical and eight horizontal high speed lines. When completed, it will run along the eastern coast of China from Dalian in the north to Fangchenggang in the south, via Shenyang, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Dongying, Weifang, Qingdao, Lianyungang, Yancheng, Nantong, Shanghai, Ningbo. Fuzhou, Xiamen, Shenzhen, and Zhanjiang.
