The Hunan Provincial Railway Department revealed on May 6 that the preliminary design scheme of Huaihua-Shaoyang-Hengyang railway has been approved by the China Railway Corporation and the Hunan Provincial People's Government. The project to be commenced at the end of this June is scheduled to be completed in four and a half years. This project would reduce the travel time from Huaihua to Hengyang to less than 2 hours, five hours shorter than the original journey along Hunan-Guizhou Railway via Loudi City and Zhuzhou City.
The new state-level railway grade I covers 318 kilometers with the designed speed for passenger trains 200km/h. It will transport 50 pairs of passenger trains per day and 50 million tons of cargo per year.
With a total investment of 32.4 billion yuan, the railway will greatly shorten the distance among north-western China, south-western China, Western Taiwan Straits Economic Zone and Pearl River Delta. The exploitation of travel and mineral resources along the route will be boosted. The railway is expected to better facilitate the industrial transfer from Pearl River Delta and Western Taiwan Straits Economic Zone.
Translator: Guo Yan
Source: Hunan Official Web Portal