Engineers push through key tunnel for Yichang railway
2022-11-14 20:11:15
Tunnel engineers punched through the final meters of a key train tunnel near Yichang on Friday, a milestone for the new high-speed railway that will improve travel times between Yichang and Shanghai, Chongqing and Chengdu.
To complete the job, China Railway Seventh Group had to overcome challenging geological conditions, including fragmented, friable rock.
After 167 days of excavation work, the 315-meter Luojiacun tunnel – in Dangyang City of Yichang City – became the first tunnel bored through on the Shanghai-Chongqing-Chengdu High-speed Railway. When operational, the new 2,100-kilometer track will link Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan provinces. Designed for trains to travel at speeds up to 350 kilometers per hour, it will be one of the fastest lines on China’s railway network.
The new rail route will reduce Yichang-Wuhan travel time from 2.5 hours to 1 hour, Yichang-Shanghai from 6 hours to 4 hours, and Yichang-Chengdu from 7 hours to 3 hours.
The Shanghai-Chongqing-Chengdu High-speed Railway will connect the Yangtze River Delta with the middle Yangtze River city cluster, which includes Yichang, and the Chengdu-Chongqing city circle, boosting the development of the Yangtze River economic belt.


To complete the job, China Railway Seventh Group had to overcome challenging geological conditions, including fragmented, friable rock.
After 167 days of excavation work, the 315-meter Luojiacun tunnel – in Dangyang City of Yichang City – became the first tunnel bored through on the Shanghai-Chongqing-Chengdu High-speed Railway. When operational, the new 2,100-kilometer track will link Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan provinces. Designed for trains to travel at speeds up to 350 kilometers per hour, it will be one of the fastest lines on China’s railway network.
The new rail route will reduce Yichang-Wuhan travel time from 2.5 hours to 1 hour, Yichang-Shanghai from 6 hours to 4 hours, and Yichang-Chengdu from 7 hours to 3 hours.
The Shanghai-Chongqing-Chengdu High-speed Railway will connect the Yangtze River Delta with the middle Yangtze River city cluster, which includes Yichang, and the Chengdu-Chongqing city circle, boosting the development of the Yangtze River economic belt.


Pictures of the completed Luojiacun Tunnel on Shanghai-Chongqing-Chengdu High-speed Railway