The Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou high-speed railway is running through, and the Yangtze River Delta will add more “same-city stories”.
The “Express Delivery Area” connection is becoming increasingly closer.
On December 26th, the highly anticipated Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou high-speed railway was officially opened for operation. This high-speed railway line, with a total length of 164 kilometers, connects Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang in one go, like a strong “horizontal line” embedded in the express delivery area map of the Yangtze River Delta, closely connecting the two provinces and one city.
With the opening of the Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou high-speed railway, the railway mileage of the Yangtze River Delta has exceeded 15,000 kilometers, including over 7,700 kilometers of high-speed railway mileage. The network scale, quality, and modernization level of the Yangze River Delta railway have been significantly improved, becoming the most dense high-speed railway network in China.
Transportation is the leverage to lift urban development. With the roar of trains, the opening of the Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou railway not only brings “quality and efficiency” improvements in inter-city transportation, but also unrolls a new chapter in economy, culture, and people’s livelihoods, with more and more “同城故事” (stories of the same city).
“The First Road of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai”
On December 26th, the newly completed Huzhou East Station saw the departure of G9508 (Huzhou East – Shanghai Hongqiao), marking the integration of Huzhou into the one-hour high-speed rail “朋友圈” (circle of friends) in Shanghai.
The Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou high-speed railway was officially opened on the same day, with a total length of 164 kilometers and eight stations including Shanghai Hongqiao, Shanghai Songjiang, Liantang, Suzhou South, Shengze, Huzhou Nanxun, Huzhou East, and Huzhou stations. It is known as the “first road of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai”.
This high-speed railway line has been eagerly anticipated by Huzhou for a long time. Once upon a time, the “marginalization” of railway construction left Huzhou at a disadvantage in urban competition, gradually falling behind convenient transportation hubs such as Suzhou and Wuxi on the north side of Taihu Lake.
Retired railway worker Pan Kangmei, 74 years old, clearly remembers that it was not until 1972 when the Hangzhou-Niutong railway passed through Huzhou that Huzhou finally had its own railway station, the predecessor of the current Huzhou station, “Huzhou West”. However, at that time, “Huzhou West” only had four trains a day, mainly undertaking coal transportation tasks, with daily passenger flow of only a few hundred people, and the journey from Huzhou to Hangzhou was time-consuming.
For a long time, Huzhou relied on National Highway 318 to reach Shanghai. It was not until the first highway connecting Huzhou to Shanghai in 2006 that travel time was significantly reduced. In 2013, the Ninghang high-speed railway was opened, and Huzhou station was put into use, connecting Huzhou to the national high-speed railway network and integrating it into the Yangtze River Delta one-hour urban圈. With the opening of the Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou railway, Huzhou’s transportation has迎来了更大的转机 (welcomed greater opportunities).
With this opportunity, Huzhou has become the only city in the Yangtze River Delta that can reach Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Hefei within an hour. “After the opening of the Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou high-speed railway, Huzhou can reach major cities in the Yangtze River Delta within 60 minutes and all prefecture-level cities in the Yangtze River Delta within 90 minutes,” said Shen Xinyue, deputy director of the Huzhou Regional Cooperation Office.
For the “Railway on the Yangtze River Delta”, the Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou high-speed railway is not just a line, but also an “activation” of the entire network, which improves the quality and efficiency of transportation between cities and stations. Wei Qiang, a senior engineer at China Railway Shanghai Bureau Group Co., Ltd., explained that at the initial stage of operation, the railway department will open a maximum of 38 bullet trains every day, all of which are cross-line trains. The fastest trains from Shanghai Hongqiao to Shanghai Songjiang, Suzhou South, and Huzhou Nanxun can arrive in just 16 minutes, 26 minutes, and 43 minutes respectively. The fastest train from Shanghai Hongqiao to Huzhou can arrive in just 55 minutes, which is a compression of 55 minutes compared to traveling via the Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway and Ninghang high-speed railway. Shanghai Hongqiao will also open its first bullet train to Hangzhou West, with a fastest arrival time of 78 minutes. After the adjustment of train schedules in the first quarter of 2025, up to 229 bullet trains will operate daily on the Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou high-speed railway.
Regional Development Enablement Line
The Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou high-speed railway is an enablement line for regional development that attracts people flow, logistics, and capital to gather along cities along its route.
On December 20th, the “See Beautiful China in Huzhou” (Shanghai) Promotion Conference and Shanghai Activity Week opening ceremony were held in Shanghai. The content of this Shanghai Week is diverse and covers various fields including economy, culture, society, and ecology. It also includes visits to key enterprises in Shanghai, scientific innovation platforms, and universities.
Huzhou has been engaged with Shanghai for more than 30 years. The difference is that before there was no direct high-speed train from Huzhou to Shanghai. This time around for this “visit”, Huzhou is coming via the Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou high-speed railway. The opening ceremony of this high-speed railway is also a key part of the Shanghai Activity Week.
Chen Guantian, overall design director of the Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou high-speed railway for China Railway Teton Railway Design Institute Group Co., Ltd., said that after its opening to traffic by passenger trains such as G9508 (Huzhou East – Shanghai Hongqiao), will connect with other main passenger lines such as Hefei to form a crossshaped transportation hub that will enable convenient interconnection between Shanghai Nanjing and Hangzhou Hefei while attracting strong magnetic flow of people logistics capital into Huzhou area attracted strong magnetic flow to attract talents to gather resources into Huzhou Chen Guantian expressed that after opening its open across node now awaits regional city market agglomeration city layout continue optimization Gansu to save for very quickly into this area has opened up a convenient way for residents to start businesses at low cost and enjoy a high quality life at leisure. Moreover this line is also a tourist route through water towns crossing over rivers such as Tai Puhe Yuan Dang Lake Sangze Zhouzhuang Liji Shengze Zhenjiang etc along with lakes and rivers forming an interconnected network which provides strong impetus for tourism development along its route line Zhejiang Huizhou Ecological Island Style Shuqiao Nature Beauty Integration Cruise River Area Silk City Cultural Tourism etc are all places worth visiting along this route The opening ceremony also marks an important milestone for strengthening intercity connectivity in addition to promoting tourism it also brings opportunities for intercity collaboration innovation resource sharing as well as economic development as cities along this route are geographically closer which facilitates efficient flow of resources such as personnel capital technology etc leading to optimized resource allocation enhancing synergies between cities boosting innovation collaboration via shared resources According to industry insiders during operation preparations over recent years urban clusters have formed around key cities such as BeijingShanghaiGuangzhou Shenzhen along with cities in other regions gradually forming integrated development trends In addition to contributing to economic growth along its route by promoting industrial upgrading technological innovation talent attraction tourism development etc through projects such as Shanghaizhou which focus on cultural exchanges transportation connections eco mential growth education promotion cooperation areas building etc which help further enhance intercity ties with higher quality intercity living circles bringing greater happiness to residents through higher quality jobs better living environments more convenient travel options etc On December 26th at precisely 10:48 am the first train from Shanghai Suzhou Huizhou arrived at Shanghai Hongqiao station With this new connection more stories about intercity life in Yangtze River Delta will continue to unfold along with new opportunities for collaboration between cities as well as new ways for people from different cities to interact beyond mere work or study生活 into new levels as intercity life continues to improve along with higher quality jobs better living environments more convenient travel options etc
