Latest Updates

On June 30th, the first high-speed railway with a speed of 350 kilometers per hour, the West Tenth High Speed Railway, which was completed and put into operation in the first year of the 15th Five Year Plan, was put into operation. The fastest travel time from Xi'an to Shiyan is 1 hour and 10 minutes, and the fastest travel time between Wuhan and Xi'an is 2 hours and 41 minutes. The addition of a high-speed railway artery between the northwest and central China regions has significantly reduced the distance in time and space, injecting new momentum into the high-quality development of the regional economy and society.

 

High speed connectivity

 

At 9:16 am on June 30th, trains G3966 and G3969 departed from Xi'an East Station and Shiyan East Station respectively, marking the official opening of the Xi'an Shiyan high-speed railway.

 

"It used to take five hours to drive to Xi'an, but it only took one hour after the high-speed railway was opened. You can eat Shiyan sour paste noodles in the morning and Pita bread soaked in Lamb Soup in Xi'an at noon." On the train, Li Zhidong, a passenger from Shiyan, could not hide his excitement.

 

The West Tenth High Speed Railway has a total length of 257 kilometers and a designed speed of 350 kilometers per hour. The line starts from Xi'an East Station, passes through Xi'an, Shangluo, and Shiyan, and ends at Shiyan East Station. The entire line has 7 stations, except for Shiyan East Station, the other 6 are newly built stations. As a major transportation project crossing the hinterland of Qinling Mountains, the route crosses the Qinling Fold Fault Zone, with complex geological structures, strict ecological protection standards, and extremely difficult construction along the way. The entire line passes through the complex deep mountainous areas of the Qinling Mountains, with a bridge tunnel ratio of over 90%, "said He Xinde, Chief Engineer of the Second Division of the West Tenth High speed Railway of China Railway Seventh Bureau.

 

In the initial stage of the opening of the West Tenth High Speed Railway, 29 pairs of high-speed trains were operated daily, including 25 pairs of cross line high-speed trains. At the same time, flexible discounts and differentiated market-oriented fare mechanisms were implemented to fully meet the diverse travel needs of the masses. The line is connected to the West Extension High speed Railway to the north and the Han Tenth High speed Railway to the south, which can smoothly connect multiple national high-speed railway trunk lines such as Xulan, Xicheng, and Yinxi, further weaving the national "Eight Verticals and Eight Horizontals" high-speed railway network.

 

The West Tenth High speed Railway has filled the key gaps in Hubei's railway network, "Cao Min, director of the Revenue Analysis Office of the Passenger Transport Department of China Railway Wuhan Group Co., Ltd., told reporters. The long-distance high-speed railway from the northwest to the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions will largely switch to the West Tenth and Han Tenth through Wuhan, making Wuhan a new transit node for northwest passenger flow to move south to the southeast coast. This breaks the previous situation of high-speed railways in the central and western regions bypassing Zhengzhou as a single distribution center, further improves the layout of Wuhan's super" meter "shaped high-speed railway hub, and forms a composite road network structure with the longitudinal axis of the Beijing Guangzhou high-speed railway, the east-west axis of the Yangtze River high-speed railway, the northwest ray of the West Tenth high-speed railway, and the southwest ray of the Zhengzhou Chongqing high-speed railway intersecting and interconnecting. The total mileage of Hubei Province has risen to the fourth.

 

Xi'an has taken a decisive step towards becoming the third "m" - shaped high-speed railway hub in the country by filling the key gap in the southeast direction of the "m" - shaped high-speed railway network. Relying on the millions level passenger transportation capacity of Xi'an East Railway Station, the line will continue to facilitate the circulation of people, logistics, information flow, and capital flow in the region, empowering the coordinated development of the entire economy, "said Liu Tongfei from the Passenger Transport Department of Xi'an Railway Bureau.

 

From a global development perspective, the completion of the West Tenth High speed Railway is not just an extension of a railway line, but also a high-speed corridor for the coordinated development of the central and western regions, the integration of culture and tourism, and the upgrading of people's livelihood and well-being. It has opened up the direct connecting artery between the northwest and central China, promoted the deep strategic linkage between the two major countries of the "the Belt and Road" and the Yangtze River Economic Belt, made the northwest inland more smoothly connect with the Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao, Chengdu and Chongqing and other core economic sectors, and built a new strategic fulcrum for high-quality opening up of the inland region and regional coordinated and win-win development.

 

Cultural tourism linkage

 

At the Xi'an East Railway Station, storytellers in northern Shaanxi played three strings: "A huge dragon crosses between Qin and Chu, and the whole line has been through for nine days." Inside the carriage, the heroic and grand Qin Opera and the gorgeous and euphemistic Han tunes sounded alternately, winning applause. With the arrival of the first train, Wudang Mountain in Shiyan, Hubei also welcomed the first Shaanxi tour group.

 

In the past, when I came to Hubei for sightseeing, I would spend five or six hours on the road. Now, after the opening of the West Tenth High speed Railway, it's so convenient to take my children to see Wudang Mountain and Yellow Crane Tower, and they can leave at will, "said the Xi'an parent-child travel blogger" Flash Jiajia "to reporters.

 

After arriving at Wudang Mountain, these more than 500 members of the first group will embark on a three-day and two night in-depth experience tour in Shiyan, following two boutique routes A and B. Feng Kaichun, Deputy Director of the Propaganda Department of the Wudang Mountain Special Zone Working Committee in Shiyan, said that tourists from the five provinces in Northwest China can enjoy half price Wudang Mountain tickets and 20% discount on cableway tickets with high-speed rail tickets; From Shiyan East Station to Wudang Mountain, there is a free shuttle service with high-speed rail tickets, which leads directly to the entrance of Wudang Mountain.

 

At Manchuan Ancient Town in Shanyang County, Shaanxi Province, about 4 kilometers away from the West Ten High Speed Railway Manchuan Pass Station, the "Manchuan Major" sounds leisurely, and the eight famous dishes of Manchuan are steaming hot. With the unique blend of culture and 4A level scenic resources, many Hubei tourists also flock here.

 

The high-speed rail not only brings tourists, but also development opportunities. "Zheng Caihua, the mayor of Manchuanguan Town in Shanyang County, is very confident about the future development:" We have comprehensively renovated the original buildings and infrastructure, illuminated more than 30000 square meters of antique style building facades, and created a 'ancient town+' integrated business model, providing a convenient, comfortable, and safe tourist environment for high-speed rail passenger flow

 

Observant tourists have discovered that the station itself has also become a "cultural landmark". Lantian Station uses the rhyme "the beauty of jade is blue"; The roof of Shangluo West Station is staggered in height, echoing the shape of the Qinling Mountains; The roof of Manchugawa Pass Station is extracted from the scattered and layered architectural complex of the ancient town, which combines the grandeur of the north with the beauty of the south

 

Peng Yue, Secretary of the Party Branch of Xi'an East Station of Xi'an Railway Bureau, said that after the national map adjustment on July 1st, a new direct high-speed train from Yan'an to Shaoshan South has been opened, connecting the two major revolutionary old areas of Yan'an and Shaoshan, creating a "Yan'an Xi'an Wuhan Shaoshan" red boutique travel route, effectively connecting the revolutionary sites in northern Shaanxi, the red points in central China, and the red cultural and tourism resources in Shaoshan, and comprehensively supporting the development of red research and tourism industries.

 

From the prosperous Tang Dynasty's Chang'an to Wudang Xianshan, Danjiang Ecological, and then to Qinchu Ancient Town and Red Site, a high-speed railway connects the cultural and tourism resources of the two provinces, driving the hot sales of homestays, specialty restaurants, and agricultural products, and transforming convenient transportation into a livelihood dividend that increases people's income. Hubei and Shaanxi provinces have successively introduced multiple policies that benefit the people, ushering in new opportunities for cross provincial cultural and tourism integration.

 

In late June, the Department of Culture and Tourism of Hubei Province held two special promotion events in Lanzhou and Xi'an, releasing 65 boutique tourism routes with eight major themes for the northwest market, covering a full range of formats such as landscape sightseeing, cultural experience, summer leisure, and parent-child study; More than 40 batches of cultural and tourism enterprises signed cooperation agreements on customer source exchange and route construction on site, opening up channels for northwest customer sources to enter Hubei. According to statistics, over 100 scenic spots in Hubei Province provide exclusive benefits such as free admission and discounts for tourists from Shaanxi.

 

The Department of Culture and Tourism of Shaanxi Province organized Xi'an, Shangluo, Xianyang and other places to launch cross regional high-speed rail tourism boutique routes and "high-speed rail tickets+scenic spot tickets+hotel accommodation" combination packages and other discounts. Shaanxi also offers exclusive benefits to Hubei tourists: Hubei tourists only need 198 yuan to purchase the "Guanzhong Plain City Cluster Tourism Annual Card", which allows them to visit more than 100 scenic spots in Xi'an, Shangluo and other places for free.

 

With the arrival of the peak summer tourism season, the linkage effect between cultural and tourism industries in the two provinces will continue to be released, and "traveling Qin and Chu by high-speed rail" will also become a characteristic business card for the coordinated development of regional cultural and tourism.

 

Integration of industries

 

The one hour commuting circle of the West Ten High speed Railway has broken the long-standing time and space barriers in the Qinba mountainous area. The efficient connection between Guanzhong's scientific and technological innovation resources and the manufacturing base in western Hubei has enabled enterprises in Xi'an, Shiyan, Shanyang, Yunxi and other areas along the line to share the dividends of human flow, logistics and technology flow. Multiple industrial chains such as automobile manufacturing, electronic information, equipment manufacturing, and characteristic agriculture have achieved cross provincial linkage, and new quality productivity has accelerated its landing and rooting in the land of Qin and Chu.

 

Jin Qiang, Director of the Development and Reform Commission of Shiyan City, said that the West Tenth High speed Railway has opened up a convenient channel for talent, technology, and industry exchange between Qin and Chu, effectively solving development bottlenecks such as weak location and poor resource circulation in mountainous counties, and injecting strong momentum into improving the quality and efficiency of the county economy and innovative breakthroughs.

 

As a pillar of industry in northwest Hubei, Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle Industry Cluster has ushered in a new opportunity for collaborative development. Previously, automotive R&D teams from universities and research institutes in Xi'an went to Shiyan to coordinate vehicle projects, which often took a whole day to travel back and forth, with long cycles for technical debugging and solution discussions; After the high-speed railway is opened, the two places will be included in the one hour industrial circle. Technical personnel in the fields of new materials and intelligent driving in Xi'an can travel back and forth on the same day, and carry out work optimization and component adaptation in the factory on a regular basis, effectively shortening the iteration cycle of new energy heavy-duty truck research and development.

 

Last November, the "Shiyan Car Enters the Northwest" Commercial Vehicle Production and Sales Matchmaking Conference was held in Xi'an. Many Shiyan car companies signed purchase orders for 1188 commercial vehicles with 168 logistics companies in Shaanxi on site. The industrial chain loop of 'Shiyan factory, Xi'an road' is accelerating its formation. Xi'an is not only an important consumer market for Shiyan manufacturing, but also a strategic pivot that radiates the entire northwest, "said Shang Jinlong, Deputy General Manager of Hubei Sanhuan Automobile Co., Ltd.

 

In the electronic information industry park of Shanyang High tech Zone in Shaanxi Province, deep in the Qinling Mountains, workers are agile and the pace of shipment has significantly accelerated. As the leading foreign trade company in Shanyang County, Ruiyu Electronics aims to achieve an industrial output value of 142 million yuan by 2025, with exports accounting for 85.81% of the county's total. The various electronic devices produced by Ruiyu Electronics are exported to multiple countries and regions overseas. In the past, due to inconvenient transportation, many customers were unaware of our electronic product production business in Shanyang, and it was also very inconvenient for customers to come to our factory. They had to change transportation multiple times to get there, "said Sun Shenghua, the manager of the company." The West Tenth High speed Railway directly connects to Shanyang, which plays an important role in promoting our talent introduction and business promotion

 

County enterprises along the line also take high-speed trains to achieve quality improvement and expansion. In Tianhe Industrial Park, Yunxi County, Shiyan, Zhongyong Electric Power relies on the location advantage of Yunxi Station to undertake the production order of supporting transformers for the West Tenth High speed Railway. The products are exported to Central Asia and Africa, and the current production order has been scheduled until the end of the year. The annual production capacity has stabilized at 150000 units (sets).

 

Yunhai Airlines from Xi'an recognized the natural flight test advantages of Yunxi's low altitude full area opening and kilometer level altitude drop, and launched a cross provincial layout of low altitude industry in July last year. Engineers can conduct test flights by carrying equipment out of the house, increasing testing efficiency by more than 40%. The second phase of the project was completed in June this year, and the entire chain from component processing to complete machine assembly to test flight operation and maintenance can be completed locally.

 

The development dividends released by the completion of the West Tenth High speed Railway have already broken through the restrictions of the Hubei Shaanxi provincial border, radiating and connecting the vast areas of the east, central, and western regions. Li Hao, Deputy General Manager of Shenzhen Kaikai Biomedical Technology Co., Ltd., said that the company's headquarters and manufacturing base are rooted in Shenzhen, with core branches in Wuhan and Xi'an. The West Ten High Speed Railway has broken through the barriers of linkage between Guangdong, Hubei, and Shaanxi, and built a cross regional R&D "half day work circle", which will greatly improve the collaborative efficiency of enterprise technology research and development, equipment coordination, and talent exchange.

 

A high-speed railway connects the industrial circulation network between Qin and Chu, complementing and stacking the advantages of Xi'an's scientific and technological innovation, Shiyan's vehicle manufacturing, and the specialized, refined, and new industries in the counties along the route. The industrial barriers formed in the past due to distant mountain roads are gradually melting, and cross provincial talent exchange, supply chain coordination, and market sharing are normalized, laying a solid industrial foundation for the integration of the Guanzhong Plain urban agglomeration and the Yangtze River middle reaches urban agglomeration. (Source: Economic Daily Author: Liu Jie, Dong Qingshen, Lei Ting)

 

(