In September, many Chengdu residents are discussing one topic: the fastest railway corridor from Sichuan to the north—the Xi'an-Chengdu Passenger Dedicated Line—is about to open! By then, the 680-kilometer journey from Chengdu to Xi'an will be covered in just 3 hours. Via the Xi'an-Chengdu Passenger Dedicated Line, Sichuan will be quickly integrated into the national high-speed rail network, and from Chengdu, Beijing can be reached in about 8 hours.

This is a microcosm of the rapid advancement of railway construction in Sichuan since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

From green-skinned trains to the latest CRH3A new-type EMUs, trains are getting faster, safety performance is improving, more railway lines are opening, and railway services are becoming better... Over the past five years, Sichuan's railway construction has advanced by leaps and bounds with brilliant achievements.

"Five Years of Leaps" New Development—

Supply-side reform builds a new pattern for passenger transport

During this year's summer travel rush, fast commuter lines represented by intercity and regional railways such as the Mianyang-Chengdu-Leshan Passenger Dedicated Line and the Chengdu-Guanxian Rapid Railway were highly popular among passengers; on July 25, the country's first passenger transport organization model of EMU and subway cross-platform interchange at the same station was implemented at Xipu Station on the Chengdu-Guanxian Rapid Railway, enhancing passengers' diversified travel options...

Over the past five years, Sichuan's railway construction has consistently taken the implementation of market entity status as a major responsibility, fully grasped passenger and freight marketing, vigorously developed green logistics, and continuously improved operational efficiency and profitability.

In passenger transport, to improve market competitiveness, the Chengdu Railway Bureau "follows the market," actively adjusts and enhances transport capacity, takes product innovation as an important measure to promote supply-side reform and boost Sichuan's economic and social development, comprehensively optimizes conventional-speed products, vigorously develops high-speed rail products, and has formed a new passenger transport product pattern in Sichuan characterized by "broad coverage, many varieties, rapidity, and premium quality."

As of 2016, the province operated 242 pairs of passenger trains on a regular basis, a year-on-year increase of 36%. Among them, 138 pairs were EMUs and 104 pairs were conventional trains; 101 pairs were within the province and 141 pairs were out of the province. Passenger transport products covered major large and medium-sized cities across the country, travel times to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other places were significantly shortened, and product coverage and accessibility were comprehensively improved.

At the same time, the Chengdu Railway Bureau adhered to grasping both products and services. While continuously optimizing products, it vigorously improved warm station and train services, enriched and expanded the connotation of passenger transport products. Over the five years, Sichuan's passenger transport quality achieved new improvements amid rapid development.

Now, taking an EMU in Chengdu, passengers can enjoy various services such as the Tianfu Star train brand, the Youjia Service Post station brand, and the Huangqin Hotline customer service brand. On this basis, the Chengdu Railway Bureau is upgrading and building three major passenger transport brand series: "Chengdu Railway Online," "Chengdu Railway EMU Attendants," and "Taste of Sichuan," striving to achieve the passenger transport service goal of "leading in Southwest China and first-class in the entire railway network."

In freight logistics, the country's first "air-rail intermodal" order was born in Sichuan, declaring that rail transport has entered the era of the full logistics network. Not long ago, a batch of goods entering from Hong Kong, China, arrived at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport on flight 3U8618 and the next day was loaded onto high-speed EMU train C6310 to Mianyang Station for delivery to the consignee, with the entire process taking about 18 hours. This was the first trial transport of a "high-speed rail + aviation" cross-border logistics order after the Chengdu Railway Bureau, together with China Railway Express, Sichuan Airlines, Sichuan Airport Group, Sinotrans, and other enterprises, jointly launched multimodal transport products.

This is an attempt by Sichuan to realize a new multimodal transport model. Multimodal transport is a new attempt by the railway sector to deepen supply-side reform, accelerate the construction of modern logistics enterprises, and serve the national "Belt and Road" initiative. At present, the Chengdu Railway Bureau and China Railway Express, Sichuan Airlines, and other enterprises are jointly accelerating cooperation, planning to rely on the product advantages of high-speed rail and aviation intermodal transport to attract cargo sources from Europe, America, and Asia and further expand the cooperative market.

In addition, Chengdu Railway flexibly implements freight pricing policies within its jurisdiction, cancels some miscellaneous charges at both ends, and cleans up dedicated line fees; in neighboring bureaus, it promotes negotiated pricing between the two bureaus and complementary flows to jointly open up the chain and expand the total volume; across bureaus, it strengthens cooperation with three professional companies to build a service network covering the whole country, all products, and the entire logistics chain.

"Five Years of Leaps" New Achievements—

Key projects boost economic development

With five years of leapfrog development, Sichuan's railways have achieved gratifying results. The reporter learned from the Chengdu Railway Bureau that as of April 2017, the bureau's operating mileage reached 9,188 kilometers, including 1,786 kilometers of high-speed rail, accounting for 19.4% of the total mileage. The fixed assets of the Chengdu Railway Bureau have reached 476.7 billion yuan, ranking among the top of the country's 18 railway bureaus (companies).

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (November 2012 to August 2017), the Chengdu Railway Bureau (including controlled joint ventures) has completed a cumulative passenger volume of 899.07 million person-trips and a cumulative freight volume of 613.71 million tons.

In terms of railway construction investment, since the "12th Five-Year Plan," the province has completed a total railway infrastructure investment of 193.2 billion yuan, with an average annual investment of 32.2 billion yuan, 2.5 times that of the "11th Five-Year Plan," and the total investment ranks among the top in the country. Since the "12th Five-Year Plan," the province has completed and put into operation 23 projects including the Chengdu-Chongqing Passenger Dedicated Line, the Mianyang-Chengdu-Leshan Passenger Dedicated Line, and the Guangyuan-Weituo section of the Lanzhou-Chongqing Railway, with 1,198 kilometers of new lines put into operation, ranking among the top in the country in terms of opened mileage.

A series of railway infrastructure projects benefiting the people were successfully completed over the five years. Since 2011, Sichuan has successively completed and put into use 36 new passenger stations including Chengdu East Passenger Station, Guangyuan, Mianyang, Deyang, Neijiang North, Ziyang North, Nanchong North, and Langzhong, providing more comfortable transfer points for people's travel.

At the same time, the Chengxiang Container Center Station was completed and put into use, and the China-Europe freight train (Chengdu) was launched. In 2016, the Chengdu-Europe Express Railway operated a total of 460 trains, ranking first among China-Europe freight trains in the country. In just four years, the Chengdu-Europe Express Railway achieved two-way operation with "11 departures and 9 returns" per week, becoming the China-Europe freight train with the shortest running time and highest departure frequency in China, while the cost is only one-sixth of air transport, completely changing Chengdu's disadvantage of not bordering borders or seas.

In addition, over the five years, Sichuan also completed and put into use the Chengdu North Marshalling Station, realizing the pattern of passenger transport inside and freight transport outside the main hub of Chengdu; completed and put into use the "one center and three bases" (i.e., Chengdu Dispatch Command Center, Chengdu EMU Depot, Chengdu High-Power Locomotive Maintenance Base, and Chengdu Infrastructure Maintenance Base), with the functions of a network hub becoming increasingly perfect, laying the foundational position of a comprehensive railway transport hub in western China.

Encouragingly, over the five years, 14 projects including the Chengdu-Guiyang Railway, the Sichuan section of the Xi'an-Chengdu Passenger Dedicated Line, the Chengdu-Lanzhou Railway, the Chengdu-Pujiang Railway, and the Chengdu-Kunming capacity expansion and renovation have been started successively, with an investment scale of 214.7 billion yuan and a line mileage of over 1,800 kilometers. Among them, the investment scale for high-speed railways with a design speed of 200 km/h and above is 116.8 billion yuan, with a line mileage of 919.2 kilometers. These projects will all be completed and put into use during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, which will surely provide sufficient transport capacity support and service guarantees for Sichuan's economic and social development and inject new vitality.

"Five Years of Leaps" New Era—

From the "EMU Era" to the "High-Speed Rail Era"

In 2009, the Chengdu-Suining-Chongqing EMU began operation, and Sichuan entered the "EMU Era."

In 2010, EMUs began operation on the Chengdu-Guanxian Line and the Chengdu-Dazhou Line successively.

In 2014, Sichuan's EMUs began to "take big strides." EMUs on the Gaonan branch of the Lanzhou-Chongqing Railway from Chengdu to Guang'an and intercity EMUs on the Mianyang-Chengdu-Leshan Passenger Dedicated Line began operation, and Sichuan entered the "High-Speed Rail Era."

In 2015, the Chengdu-Chongqing High-Speed Railway opened, welcoming the first 300 km/h high-speed railway in Southwest China.

From 2012 to 2017, it was precisely the stage when Sichuan was making every effort to advance from the "EMU Era" to the "High-Speed Rail Era."

The development of high-speed rail technology has made Sichuan's "advance" solid and powerful.

Now, high-speed EMU technology represented by China Standard EMUs has reached the world's advanced level. A new member has been added to Sichuan's Harmony EMU family—the CRH3A type, with a maximum operating speed of 250 km/h. In addition to independent research and development of core components and manufacturing technology, it also adopts a self-developed network control system for the first time. The sensor equipment installed throughout the train can automatically monitor and provide safety protection for train operation data at any time, further ensuring the safe operation of the EMU. It will make its debut in Southwest China and be put into operation on the Xi'an-Chengdu Passenger Dedicated Line.

From the 100 km/h of green-skinned trains to the 200 km/h of ordinary EMUs, to the 250 km/h of the latest "CRH3A EMU," and to the 300 km/h of the Chengdu-Chongqing High-Speed Railway... The improvement of speed and technology is precisely the proof of the innovative development of Sichuan's railway construction.

Unfolding the grand blueprint for Sichuan's high-speed rail development, the "High-Speed Rail Era" has already arrived.

The Xi'an-Chengdu Passenger Dedicated Line, the northbound route out of Sichuan, is expected to open by the end of 2017. The line starts from Chengdu and passes through Deyang, Mianyang, and Guangyuan, and will become the fastest major corridor to the north, theoretically reaching Xi'an in 3 hours and Beijing in 8 hours.

In the southern Sichuan direction, the Chengdu-Guiyang Railway is expected to open by the end of 2019. This is the fastest high-speed corridor from Sichuan southward to the sea, passing through Leshan and Yibin. The South Sichuan Intercity Railway will also be completed before 2020, and the four cities of southern Sichuan will join hands to enter the "High-Speed Rail Era."

In the western Sichuan direction, there are railways extending from the Chengdu-Pujiang Railway to Ya'an and to Nyingchi, with EMUs to operate on some sections. The Chengdu-Lanzhou Railway will also be completed during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period. This intermediate-speed railway will pass through Songpan and Jiuzhaigou in Aba Prefecture, ending the history of no railways in northwestern Sichuan.

Looking to the future, Sichuan's railways have great potential.

The reporter saw in China's medium- and long-term railway network plan that in the future China will form an "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed railway network, and three of the main corridors run through Sichuan: the Beijing-Kunming corridor (Beijing-Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan-Xi'an-Chengdu (Chongqing)-Kunming High-Speed Railway), the Lanzhou (Xining)-Guangzhou corridor (Lanzhou (Xining)-Chengdu (Chongqing)-Guiyang-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway), and the Yangtze River corridor (Shanghai-Nanjing-Hefei-Wuhan-Chongqing-Chengdu High-Speed Railway).

The reporter learned from the Chengdu Railway Bureau that by 2020, Sichuan Province will basically complete a modern comprehensive transport system that is "interconnected, fully functional, seamlessly connected, safe and efficient," with broader coverage, more optimized structure, smoother connections, better services, smarter operation, safer production, and greener development, to meet the needs of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The railway-related part includes operating mileage reaching 6,000 kilometers (including local railways), an increase of more than 1,500 kilometers over the end of 2015, covering all 21 cities (prefectures) and more than 75% of county-level cities in the province. The mileage of railways with a design speed of 200 km/h and above will reach 2,100 kilometers, and the double-track rate and electrification rate will exceed 60% and 90%, respectively.

During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the state will continue to vigorously promote railway construction, especially in the central and western regions. Judging from the scale of railway investment in Sichuan Province, the scale of railway investment in Sichuan Province will remain high and at a relatively high level in the country.