In the early morning of April 27, at Nanning East Railway Station, the G3432 EMU with a maximum design speed of 350 kilometers per hour roared out, and about 11 hours later, it appeared in Xi'an, the ancient capital of the Thirteen Dynasties, more than 1,600 kilometers away.
After more than six years of construction, as an important part of the "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed railway network in the mainland, the Guinan high-speed railway passes through the karst area with extremely complex geological conditions, and extends the high-speed railway network in the western part of the mainland to the south, which not only provides a new channel for the western region to go to sea, but also helps form a new pattern of large-scale development of the western region.
From then on, the mountains are no longer high, and the sea is no longer far.
The opening of the Guinan high-speed railway has opened the mountain gate and embraced the world.
A bullet train running in Guangxi on the Guinan high-speed railway. (Photo by Xing Xing)
The Tunbang Skylight is located in Tunbangtun, Dongmiao Township, Du'an, with clear water, peculiar landform and abundant outdoor activities. The opening of the high-speed rail has made this niche tourist destination, which was originally only famous for cave diving enthusiasts, become an Internet celebrity check-in place, and tourism has ushered in an unprecedented hot scene.
"During this year's May Day holiday, all rooms were booked in advance. The owner of the B&B near the skylight scenic spot in Du'an told reporters that the opening of the Guinan high-speed railway is both an opportunity and a challenge, and the local area is enriching the tourism industry, improving the quality of service, and allowing more foreign tourists to stay.
The "magnet effect" of the Guinan high-speed railway has effectively absorbed tourists along the line, making "holiday tours" to "weekday tours" and "peak season tours" to "four-season tours". According to the data, after the opening of the Guinan high-speed railway, Du'an received 248,900 tourists during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday last year, with a daily average of 31,000, far exceeding the 14,000 in 2019, and the total tourism consumption reached a record 149 million yuan.
From the mountains to the mountains and the sea, the construction of the Guinan high-speed railway is a microcosm of the development of Guangxi's high-speed rail construction in the past ten years.
Since the opening of the first high-speed railway in Guangxi, the Hengliu Railway, from scratch, the Guangxi Railway has entered the construction stage by leaps and bounds, and 10 high-speed railways have been put into operation one after another, and the operating mileage has increased to 2,212 kilometers, achieving the goal of "city-to-city high-speed rail bullet train".
The EMU is speeding in the Guilin section of the Hengliu Line. (Photo by Jiang Songzhe)
With high-speed rail as a link, Guangxi strives to build a strategic connection belt for the coordinated development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, providing strong transportation support for undertaking industrial transfer, and giving birth to a number of 100 billion yuan industrial parks, such as the Guangdong-Guangdong-Guizhou-Yunnan-Sichuan High-speed Rail Economic Belt Pilot Zone, the Guangdong-Guizhou Cooperation Special Pilot Zone (Wuzhou), the Guangxi Dongrong Pilot Demonstration Zone (Hezhou), the "Two Bays" Industrial Integration Development Pilot Zone (Guangxi Yulin), and the Guangxi New Highland for Industrial Transfer in the East (Laibin).
The good news of transportation construction came from all over the country, and the clarion call for Guangxi's new journey to forge ahead became louder and louder.
On April 16, the X9101 China-Vietnam train loaded with 23 containers departed from Nanning International Railway Port and was sent to Vietnam Anyuan Station. So far, the number of China-Vietnam cross-border container trains will exceed 100 in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 131%.
X9101 China-Vietnam train is ready to depart (photo by Xing Xing)
As a regional comprehensive transportation hub city, Nanning will take the high-level joint construction of the new western land-sea corridor as the traction, and further open up the large corridor, build a strong hub, and densely weave a large network. The total number of China-Vietnam trains has exceeded 1,000, and the categories of goods transported have expanded to more than 620 kinds of beer, machinery and equipment, electronic components, etc., covering Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and other countries.
From the Beibu Gulf to the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, high-speed railways run from north to south and connect east and west; from bustling cities to remote mountainous areas, groups of bullet trains are speeding and interconnected. Nowadays, Guangxi's high-speed railway network is becoming denser and denser, and the modern road grid bureau of "east, west, south and north" has been basically formed.
This year, our region is striving to build a comprehensive transportation corridor that "connects the two Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao, and connects ASEAN", accelerates the implementation of a number of major transportation infrastructure projects, strives to improve the level of interconnection, and helps build a convenient place for domestic and international dual circulation markets and an important strategic hinterland of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
The Nanyu section of the Nanyu section of the Nanshen high-speed railway is under construction. (Photo courtesy of Gu Jianao)
At present, at the construction site of the ballastless track of the Liujing Yujiang Bridge and the Liulu Yongjiang Bridge of the Nanyu Section of the South-Shenzhen High-speed Railway, the builders are fighting hard. Another "steel dragon" with a design speed of 350 kilometers per hour will gallop in the land of Bagui.
Text: Huang Yuanlai, Cen Qin