The Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan intercity railway is a two-lane high-speed rail line under construction in Hunan Province in central China. The 95.5km-long railway line will link the provincial capital Changsha with Zhuzhou and Xiangtan.
The major section of the line, featuring 17 stations, was officially opened for passengers in December 2016. The initial operating speed on the line is 160km/h, which will be eventually increased to 200km/h.
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With an estimated cost of CNY24.05bn ($3.38bn), the high-speed line covers a Y-shaped route from Changsha to the two terminal points, which is expected to reduce the travelling time between Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan by 30 minutes. The railway line is operated by Guangzhou Railway (Group) Corporation.
The line will have a total of 24 stations. Construction of 16 stations south of Changsha along with Changsha station was completed and the stations were opened to traffic by December 2016, while seven stations to the west of Changsha are currently under construction with completion scheduled for 2017.
Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan railway line construction details
Construction on the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan high-speed railway line began in September 2010, while the excavation works underneath Sanxiang Nanhu Market began in August 2014. The design sketches for 12 underground stations along the line were unveiled in early 2015.
Track-laying works on the line began in March 2016 and were completed in June 2016. De-stressing work on the main lines was completed in July 2016.
The steel bridge deck at Jinhua Intersection of Huangjin West Road was erected and paved in September 2016. The first high-speed test train ran on the intercity line in October 2016. Debugging tests for the line began in October 2016.
Construction of the Changsha station began in April 2015. The major works on Southern main portion and ancillary works including track laying of the Muyun-Xiangtan section were completed by August 2016. Other works including telecommunication, signals and debugging tests were also completed in the third quarter of 2016. The station building construction was concluded by September 2016.
Construction on the western section of Changsha station of the line began in early-2016. The tunnelling works were completed using earth pressure balance shield tunnel boring machine (TBM).
Rolling stock for the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan railway line
The eight-car CRH6F electric train sets for the line were provided by CRRC Qingdao Sifang. The first batch of five CRH6F trains was delivered in December 2016.
The intercity line is currently served by 28 and 34 pairs of CRH6F EMU high-speed trains during normal and peak hours, respectively. Each train can accommodate up to 2,000 passengers.
The National Railway Administration arranged 34 pairs of trains for peak hours, including 15 pairs assigned to Zhuzhounan and 19 pairs to Xiangtan stations, while 28 pairs including 12 pairs assigned to Zhuzhounan and 16 pairs to Xiangtan stations operate on the line during the normal time.
Contractors involved with the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan railway line
China Construction Fifth Engineering Division Corp. (CSCEC 5th Bureau) was awarded the construction contract for Changsha, the biggest station along the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan Intercity railway line. The scope of the contract included the construction of 10,000m² of building and 16,000m² of station canopy.
China Railway 14th Construction Bureau Co. was contracted to construct the 12.8km-long Shumuling Tunnel of the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan intercity railway.
