Facility connectivity is an important support for the implementation of major strategies. Transportation is one of the key points of infrastructure connectivity. With the deepening of the construction of the "Belt and Road", the northwest has changed from the end of opening to the frontier of opening to the west, and the Eurasian Land Bridge has become the main support for the joint construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the main channel of the China-Europe train. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the transportation links between the Chengdu-Chongqing region, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the northwest. North China is an important hinterland in the northwest of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei facing Central Asia, the Middle East and even Europe, and for a long time mainly relied on the Beijing-Baolan-Beijing-Baolan Railway and Beijing-Guangzhou-Longhai Railway docking with low construction standards, until the Shitai/Zhangda-Taizhongyin Railway was completed, it was effectively alleviated, but there were still relatively few high-grade channels. The good news is that the "Yellow High-speed Railway", with a total investment of nearly 45 billion yuan, is about to be opened, which will further strengthen the capacity of the strategic passage from North China to Northwest China.
This is the Jinglan Passage (Baotou to Yinchuan section). The Jinglan Corridor is one of the main high-speed rail channels of the mainland, passing through 5 provinces (cities and districts) such as Beijing, Hebei, Mengning, and Gansu, and perfectly connecting the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Hubei-Hubei, Ningxia-Yanhuang, Lanxi and other urban agglomerations, with a total length of more than 1,300 kilometers. Among them, the section with the highest design standard is the section from Beijing to Zhangjiakou, which was originally planned to be built according to the standard of 250km/h, but in order to serve the Beijing Winter Olympics, most of the section was upgraded to 350km/h, with a total length of about 174 kilometers and a total investment of 58.41 billion yuan, which was put into operation at the end of December 2019, and the section from Zhangjiakou to Hohhot with a total length of about 282 kilometers and a total length of 250km/ With a total investment of 32.32 billion yuan, the whole line was put into operation at the end of December 2019, and the Hubao section completed the speed improvement (200km/h) in January 2015 and started the train group.
To the west of Baotou, the fastest progress is the Yinlan high-speed railway. The high-speed railway has a total length of about 431 kilometers and a design speed of 250 kilometers per hour, of which the Yinchuan to Wuzhong section (reserved for 350 km/h conditions) is also an important part of the Yinxi high-speed railway, with a total length of about 76 kilometers, the Wuzhong to Zhongwei section with a total length of about 136 kilometers and a total investment of about 14.91 billion yuan, all of which were put into operation at the end of December 2019, and the section from Zhongwei to Lanzhou with a total length of about 218 kilometers and a total investment of about 29.821 billion yuan, which has been put into operation at the end of December 2022.
At present, only the Baoyin high-speed railway has not been completed and opened to traffic in the Jinglan Corridor. This high-speed railway is routed along the upper reaches of the Yellow River, perfectly connecting the "front set", "back set" and "west set" of the Hetao Plain, which is the famous "high-speed railway along the Yellow River", which is divided into Baotou to Huinong section and Huinong to Yinchuan section. Among them, the section from Baotou to Huinong perfectly connects Bayannur, Ordos, Wuhai, Shizuishan and other places, with a new line of about 419.3 kilometers, a branch line from Yinchuan to Bayanhot of about 110.6 kilometers and a total investment of 250km/h, with a total investment of about 54.63 billion yuan, and an investment of about 6.91 billion yuan in the Yinba branch line, which is expected to be completed and opened to traffic in 2025 (the Yinba branch line is expected to be opened in 2026).
The Huinong-Yinchuan section is progressing faster, with a new main line of about 100.6 kilometers, 4 stations, 250 km/h, and a total investment of about 12.87 billion yuan, which has been fully started in 2019. At present, this section of the high-speed railway has made significant progress, and the track-laying task of the whole line has been completed in December 2023, and the construction of three new stations along the line (Huinong South, Shizuishan South, and Shahu Station) has entered the final sprint stage of the project, and the whole line is expected to be put into operation in the first half of 2024. The Ningxia 2024 government work report clearly mentions: the Ningxia section of the Baoyin high-speed railway will be completed.
The Jinglan Corridor is a strategic passage connecting North China and Northwest China, and after the completion and opening of the "Yellow High-speed Railway" from Baotou to Yinchuan, it will become the fastest high-speed rail channel in Northeast China, North China and Northwest China, and promote the connection between the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Economic Circle, the Hetao Economic Circle and the Upper Yellow River Economic Circle. At the same time, it will also form a transportation channel for the separation of passengers and freight from the northwest, Hubei, and northern Shanxi to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, alleviate the transportation pressure of the existing Beijing-Baolan-Lan railway, Daqin railway and other major coal transportation arteries, improve the transportation capacity of the northwestern corridor from North China, and strengthen national energy security and national defense security.
For a long time, the main passage from North China to the Northwest was mainly the north and south passages, the Beijing-Baozhou-Lanzhou Railway to the north, the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway to Zhengzhou to the south, and then the Longhai Railway-Lanxin Railway to the northwest hinterland. Among them, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei to the northwest mainly relies on the Beijing-Baolan railway, but the construction standard of this railway is low, with the increasing number of China-Europe trains, coupled with the increasing coal output in Inner Mongolia, northern Shanxi, and northern Shaanxi, the existing railway transportation capacity has been put under pressure. Therefore, the Zhangjiakou to Datong high-speed railway (250km/h) and the Shitai passenger train (250km/h) through the Taihang Mountains have become an important channel to relieve the transportation pressure, in addition, the Taizhongyin Railway (160km/h, reserved 200km/h conditions) has been completed and opened to traffic, and the nearest high-speed rail channel (Shitaike-Taizhongyin Railway) has been formed from North China to the northwest region, which has improved the channel capacity of North China and Northwest China.
The Jinglan Corridor is not only an important passage connecting Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei with the Northwest, but also will become the nearest high-speed rail corridor connecting the Northwest and the Northeast. After completion and opening to traffic, it will form a strategic channel through the northern hinterland with the existing Beijing-Harbin high-speed railway, Linha railway/Lanxin passenger dedication, etc. In addition, it can also form a railway transportation system with the existing Beijing-Baolan railway to separate passengers and freight, release the transportation capacity of the Beijing-Baolan railway (the expansion and transformation of Yinchuan to Zhongwei and other sections is on the agenda), alleviate the pressure of coal export in northern Shanxi, northern Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia, and maintain national energy security.
The "Yanhuang High-speed Railway" from Baotou to Yinchuan has become the last section of the Jinglan Corridor, and significant progress has been made, with the Yinchuan to Huinong section to be opened in 2024 and the Baotou to Huinong section to be opened in 2025. At that time, it will only take 5 hours from Yinchuan to Beijing, which will greatly reduce the time and space distance between the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration, the Hubei-Hubei urban agglomeration, the Ningxia Yanhuang urban agglomeration, and the Lanxi urban agglomeration, and become an important strategic passage to the main hinterland in the northwest.