On February 7, workers were lowering the pile foundation reinforcement cage at Shapingba Jingkou Ertang Wharf, the construction site of Jingkou Jialing River Bridge at the wellhead of Chengdu-Chongqing High-speed Railway. (Photographed by Luo Bin / Visual Chongqing)

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- At 9: 00 a. m. on February 7, at Shapingba Jingkou Ertang Wharf, drilling, hole cleaning, lowering of reinforcement cage and concrete pouring... With the orderly construction of rotary excavator, a pile foundation with a diameter of 2.8 meters and a length of 30 meters was just digging deeper into the ground.

It is the construction site of Jingkou Jialing River Bridge of Chengdu-Chongqing Middle Line High-speed Railway.

"We have been racing against time since we entered the site." The site technical director of China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Li Mo told the reporter.

Chengdu-Chongqing Middle Line High-speed Railway is a leading, symbolic and exemplary project for the construction of Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle. The construction of the whole line was started on November 28 last year. After the project was completed and opened to traffic, two core cities of Chengdu and Chongqing can be directly connected within 1 hour basically.

About 30 Million Beneficiaries

The most direct and the most efficient, the industry uses these 6 words to summarize the characteristics of Chengdu-Chongqing Middle Line High-speed Railway.

At present, although there are three railways, Chengdu-Chongqing Railway, Chongqing-Suining Railway and Chengdu-Chongqing Passenger Dedicated Line (also known as Chengdu-Chongqing High-speed Railway), exist between Sichuan and Chongqing, they still cannot meet the high-quality travel demands of the masses.

In 2017, the most direct and the most efficient direct passenger transport channel between the two places with the design of 350km/h, was included in Chongqing Medium and Long-term Railway Network Planning (2016-2030).

After that, under the national strategic background of promoting the construction of Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, the project planning and construction has "accelerated in running". From the survey and design bidding to the feasibility study report approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, the project is implemented in just over one year. On November 28, 2022, the whole line of Chengdu-Chongqing Middle Line High-speed Railway was commenced, and the blueprint of the project was changed to “Construction Drawing”.

Started from Chongqingbei Railway Station of Chongqing Hub, Chengdu-Chongqing Middle Line High-speed Railway is introduced into Chengdu Railway Station of Chengdu Hub. The total length of main line is 292km, and conditions for further speed-up are reserved in some sections. There are 8 stations along the line: Chongqingbei, Chongqing Kexuecheng, Tongliang, Dazushike, Anyue, Lezhi, Jianzhou and Chengdu, benefiting nearly 30 million people.

Double high-speed railway channels to be formed in Chengdu-Chongqing area

After the completion of the anticipated high-speed railway, the line brought areas alongside into the “one-hour traffic circle” in Chengdu-Chongqing region, and it will also form a double high-speed rail channel in Chengdu-Chongqing region together with the Chengdu-Chongqing Passenger Dedicated Line which has been completed and operated.

A responsible person of Tongliang Transport Bureau said that after the completion of Chengdu-Chongqing Middle Line High-speed Railway, it will end the history of no high-speed rail in Tongliang. At that time, it will only take 12 minutes from Tongliang to downtown Chongqing and only 40 minutes to Chengdu. In the future, the high-speed rail will form a railway network in Tongliang District together with the urban rail express line Bishan-Tongliang and the planned West Second Ring Railway Line to build a one-hour travel circle from Tongliang to the important city in Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle.

A responsible person of Baoding Town in Dazu District said that Dazushike Railway Station is set in Chengdu-Chongqing Middle Line High-speed Railway, about 5 km away from urban area of Dazu District, about 0.5 km away from Dazu Rock Carvings Tourist Center. In the future, it will take only 15 minutes from Dazu to the central city of Chongqing and more than 30 minutes to Chengdu by high-speed rail, and are more and more tourists are expected to visit Dazu Rock Carvings by high-speed railway.

Moreover, Chengdu-Chongqing Middle Line High-speed Railway will greatly shorten the time and space distance between Chongqing and Yangtze River Delta urban agglomerations like Shanghai. At present, it takes more than 10 hours from Chongqing to Shanghai by high-speed railway. In the future, the Chengdu-Chongqing Middle Line High-speed Railway will be connected with Chongqing-Yichang high-speed railway, and it will only take 3 hours from Chongqing to Wuhan and only 6 hours to Shanghai. (Translated by Zhang Kang, Fathom Language Limited)