¥474b intercity rail projects in GBA OK'd

Writer:   |  Editor: Stephanie Yang  |  From:   |  Updated: 2020-08-05

China's State planner has given its seal on a plan by Guangdong Province to spend up to 474.1 billion yuan (US$68 billion) to build an intercity rail network spanning major cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) in the next five years to ensure a one-hour travel time between major cities.

The blueprint foresees construction of 13 new intercity rail lines, upgrading five transit hubs, and the laying of 775 kilometers of new rail lines in the area, according to the approval document the National Development and Reform Commission posted on its website Monday.

Of the 13 lines, five will link Shenzhen with other cities in the area, which will extend a total of 343 kilometers and involve a total investment of 18.29 billion yuan.

The projects seek to lure private investment, with the provincial and city governments and the private sector to shoulder half of the cost to the tune of 237.1 billion yuan. The governments will take out bank loans to cover the rest.

The first phase of construction, which involves almost half of the projects, is set to begin before the start of 2022, per the document.

Work on three railways between Shenzhen and Dongguan, Huizhou and Guangzhou will kick off before 2022. They are a 70-kilometer section between Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport and Pingshan of the airport-Daya Bay intercity railway, a 133-kilometer rail linking Qianhai and Huicheng in Huizhou City, part of the Shenzhen-Huizhou Intercity Railway, and a 35-kilometer extension of the Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen Intercity Railway.

The blueprint also approves the building of rails between Tangxia in Dongguan and Longgang in Shenzhen, and between Changping in Dongguan and Longhua in Shenzhen.

By 2025, the total length of railways in the Greater Bay Area is expected to reach 4,700 kilometers and extend to 5,700 kilometers by 2035 to cover all county-level cities, according to the plan.