Key projects including the Chongqing Station (Caiyuanba Railway Station) renovation, station buildings along the Chengdu-Chongqing Middle Line High-Speed Railway, and the Chongqing-Wanzhou High-Speed Railway are advancing steadily, with multiple key milestones successfully completed, laying a solid foundation for the formation of the city's "meter"-shaped high-speed rail network and the enhancement of comprehensive transportation capacity. As of early April, the Chongqing railway station and high-speed rail station sector has completed multiple main structures, supporting works, and key technical construction, with construction progress exceeding expectations.

Chongqing Station renovation fully accelerated; pile foundation and foundation pit works over 85% complete

As a core high-speed rail hub renovation project in Yuzhong District, the Chongqing Station (Caiyuanba Railway Station) has maintained a high-intensity operation posture at the construction site since full-scale commencement on December 25, 2025. As of the end of March, the project has completed more than 1,200 pile foundations and over 85% of foundation pit excavation and support works, and the underground structure works have entered the full-scale construction stage. With a total investment of approximately 15 billion yuan and a total building scale of 660,000 square meters, the project adopts a phased construction model. After renovation, it will be upgraded from a traditional stub-end station to a through-type high-speed rail hub with 7 platforms and 14 tracks, introducing the Chengdu-Chongqing High-Speed Railway, the Chongqing-Huaihua High-Speed Railway, and the Chengdu-Chongqing conventional railway, with an annual passenger dispatch volume of 23.6 million.

At present, the station building main structure, reserved track lines, and underground transfer passages are being advanced simultaneously. The construction of reserved interface works for Rail Transit Lines 18, 26, and 27 has been completed, establishing the basic conditions for seamless connection between high-speed rail and urban rail. Meanwhile, the supporting works of the Caiyuanba Yangtze River Railway Tunnel are 90% complete and are expected to be holed through within 2026, which will connect the three major hubs of Shapingba Station, Chongqing Station, and Chongqing East Station to form a high-speed rail loop in Chongqing's central urban area. Upon completion, the project will thoroughly remedy the shortcomings of high-speed rail services in Yuzhong District and become a new landmark for station-city integrated development in Chongqing.

Good news again from the Chengdu-Chongqing Middle Line High-Speed Railway: Tongliang Station main structure completed

On March 20, the main structure of the station building of Tongliang Station on the Chengdu-Chongqing Middle Line High-Speed Railway was fully completed, marking the completion of main construction of the first newly built high-speed rail station building in the Chongqing section, which has officially shifted to the decoration and equipment installation stage. The station is constructed by China Railway Ninth Bureau Group, with a total building area of 12,000 square meters and a maximum gathering capacity of 800 people. Adopting the design concept of "mountains and rivers forming the ridge, Tongliang, the hometown of dragons," the roof steel structure grid spans 68 meters, and the overall shape presents the continuous and winding momentum of Bayue Mountain.

During construction, the project team adopted the "integral assembly, integral lifting" technology to precisely lift the 810-ton roof steel structure into place in a single operation, with the error controlled within 2 millimeters, setting a new record for high-speed rail station building construction in the Chongqing region. As of now, the Chongqing section of the Chengdu-Chongqing Middle Line High-Speed Railway has completed 80% of the main structure works of Bishan Station and Dazu Station (Shike Station), 95% of the main structure of Chongqing Science City Station, and 85% of steel structure assembly. It is expected that all station building main works will be fully completed by the end of 2026.

The Chengdu-Chongqing Middle Line High-Speed Railway is designed for a speed of 350 kilometers per hour, with reserved conditions for speed increase to 400 kilometers per hour. Upon completion, the journey from Chongqing to Chengdu will take only 50 minutes, making it the country's first high-speed railway at the 400-kilometer-per-hour level. At present, 92% of the bridge and tunnel works along the entire Chongqing section have been completed, ballastless track laying has been fully launched, and the line is expected to be ready for operation in the first half of 2027.

Chongqing-Wanzhou, Chongqing-Kunming, and Xi'an-Chongqing high-speed railways advanced simultaneously; station yard works enter the closing stage

Major progress has been made in the construction of the Chongqing-Wanzhou High-Speed Railway. As of early April, the offline main works of the entire line have been basically completed, and key and difficult projects such as the Yinglong Lake double-track grand bridge and the Yulin River grand bridge have all been closed. The station building works have entered the interior decoration stage. Among them, the station yard supporting works of Chongqing East Station, Changshou North Station, Dianjiang Station, and Wanzhou North Station are 90% complete, and the "four-electric" works (communication, signaling, power, and electrification) are being advanced simultaneously. The line is expected to open in April 2027, when a one-hour direct journey from Chongqing's central urban area to Wanzhou will be realized.

The Chongqing section of the Chongqing-Kunming High-Speed Railway has entered the sprint stage of track laying. The station building works of Jiulongpo West Station, Jiangjin North Station, and Yongchuan South Station have all been completed, and equipment commissioning and acceptance work are underway. The project is expected to open in December 2026, when the journey from Chongqing to Kunming will be shortened from the current 5 hours to 2.5 hours, and to Luzhou and Yibin will take only 26 minutes and 48 minutes respectively. The "four-electric" works of the Kangyu section of the Xi'an-Chongqing High-Speed Railway have been fully launched, with 49 tunnels holed through, 65 bridges closed, and 1,198 kilometers of catenary wires erected. BIM technology has been applied to achieve millimeter-level construction precision, and track laying is expected to be completed in 2027.

Qianjiang-Jishou High-Speed Railway approved; high-speed rail network in southeast Chongqing launched

On February 2, the 2026 Chongqing Municipal Transportation Work Conference clarified that the Qianjiang-Jishou High-Speed Railway (Qianji High-Speed Railway) will commence construction at the end of September 2026. On March 24, the project received official approval from the National Development and Reform Commission. The Chongqing section has a total length of 150.6 kilometers, a design speed of 350 kilometers per hour, and a total investment of 29.921 billion yuan, with 3 stations: Qianjiang Station (existing), Youyang West Station, and Xiushan North Station. Among them, the sites for Youyang West Station and Xiushan North Station have been determined; both are small high-speed rail stations with 2 platforms and 4 tracks, which will end the history of no high-speed rail access in Youyang and Xiushan counties in southeast Chongqing.

At present, the project has completed preliminary design and geological survey, and land acquisition and demolition work has been launched simultaneously. It is expected to be completed and opened in 2030. After opening, a new high-speed rail corridor from Chongqing to Xiangxi and Changsha will be added, further improving the national "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed rail network and supporting cultural-tourism integration and rural revitalization in the Wuling Mountain area of southeast Chongqing.

Supporting upgrades at Chongqing North Station and Chongqing East Station; service capacity continuously improved

Renovation of existing hubs is also being advanced. The supporting traffic optimization project at the North Square of Chongqing North Station has been completed, adding 2 station entrance passages and 3 waiting areas, increasing the waiting area by 5,000 square meters and enhancing passenger gathering capacity during peak periods by 40%. The supporting comprehensive transportation hub project of Chongqing East Station has entered the closing stage. The bus terminal, long-distance bus station, and underground parking lot have all been completed, and the transfer passages for Rail Lines 6, 8, and 24 have been holed through, realizing "zero-transfer" among high-speed rail, rail transit, buses, and long-distance passenger transport.

As of now, Chongqing East Station has completed the connection works for lines including the Chongqing-Huaihua High-Speed Railway, Chongqing-Wanzhou High-Speed Railway, and the East Ring Line. Interior decoration of the station building is 95% complete, and installation and commissioning of intelligent customer service systems, security inspection equipment, and guide signs are underway. The station is expected to be fully put into use in the second half of 2026. By then, Chongqing East Station will become the largest and most fully functional high-speed rail station in Chongqing, with an annual passenger dispatch volume of 35 million, undertaking the main high-speed rail passenger flow from Chongqing to the east and south.

Multi-dimensional efforts to build a modern railway hub and empower the Chengdu-Chongqing twin-city economic circle

Since 2026, Chongqing's railway construction has adhered to the concept of "station-city integration and interconnection," coordinating the advancement of new construction and renovation projects, and has formed a virtuous cycle of "a batch under construction, a batch started, and a batch in reserve." As of the end of the first quarter, the city's railway mileage under construction reached 680 kilometers, with a total investment exceeding 120 billion yuan, covering 5 high-speed rail trunk lines including the Chengdu-Chongqing Middle Line, Chongqing-Wanzhou, Chongqing-Kunming, Xi'an-Chongqing, and Qianjiang-Jishou, as well as more than 10 station yard projects including Chongqing Station and Chongqing East Station.