Key rail tunnel completed
2023-12-16 19:12:59
By Tan Maolin, Yichang International Communication Studio
A key rail tunnel for the new east-west high-speed rail line which will pass through Yichang was completed in Yiling District on Thursday.
A key rail tunnel for the new east-west high-speed rail line which will pass through Yichang was completed in Yiling District on Thursday.
Wuhan-Yichang section of the railway
The 2,061-meter Fengbaoshan tunnel is the longest tunnel in the Yichang section of the Shanghai-Chongqing-Chengdu high-speed railway. A challenge to build, it is a key component of the Wuhan-Yichang section of the new high-speed railway, eliminating a crucial bottleneck.
The tunnel is a single-bore two-lane tunnel between Xiajiawan Bridge and Minjiachong Bridge.
The Wuhan-Yichang section – which starts at Hankou Station in Wuhan and ends at Yichang North Station – is designed for a speed of 350 kilometers per hour. The six stations along the route are Hanchuan East, Tianmen North, Jingshan South, Zhongxiang South, Jingmen West and Dangyang West.
The Wuhan-Yichang section will be completed in 2025 at a total cost of 5.27 billion yuan (US$740 million).
The Shanghai-Chongqing-Chengdu high-speed railway is a vital transport link for the Yangtze River Basin. Stretching over 2,100 kilometers, it passes through six provinces: Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Chongqing and Sichuan. Once completed, the seven-section railway will reduce travel time from Shanghai to Chengdu from an average of 13 hours to just 6 hours.
