Han Ximin

1824295095@qq.com

TRAIN DJ7208 departed Shenzhen North Railway Station at 5:28 a.m. Saturday to Dingnan South Station in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, marking the start of scheduled test runs and the countdown before the official operation of the Ganzhou-Shenzhen High-speed Railway.

These scheduled test runs are the final preparation or rehearsal before the railway officially operates. The train operator proceeds with standard train operating procedures, including mock passenger pickup and drop-off, scheduled departures and arrivals, and real-time communication between trains and control centers, according to a release by Guangzhou Railway Group Corp. on Saturday.

The Ganzhou-Shenzhen High-speed Railway runs 436.37 kilometers between Ganzhou and Shenzhen, passing through Heyuan, Huizhou and Dongguan. It has a total of 14 stations, with nine in Guangdong. The Guangdong section spans 301 kilometers and is designed with a top speed at 350 kilometers per hour. It is also a part of Beijing-Hong Kong High-speed Railway, one of the vertical routes of the country’s “eight vertical and eight horizontal high-speed railway networks.”

The railway will cut travel time along its routes. The trip between Shenzhen and Ganzhou will be cut from seven to two hours after the rail is put into operation before the end of this year. Upon operation, it will be the first time for the city of Heyuan to be linked up with a high-speed railway and it completes the high-speed rail link of all prefecture-level cities in Guangdong. It will cut the travel time between Dongguan and Shenzhen to 30 minutes.

Shenzhen North Railway Station’s daily departing passenger turnover will reach 170,000 with its access to the Ganzhou-Shenzhen High-speed Railway, up by 14 percent from its current volume, according to the station.

The railway will play a significant role in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) 30-minute circle and two-hour life circle between Guangdong and Jiangxi. The high-speed railway’s operation will accelerate the integration of northern Guangdong and southern Jiangxi into the GBA, promote rural revitalization, industrial transfer and economic development along the railway.