The reporter learned from relevant departments in Shandong Province that during the “13th Five-Year Plan” period, all 17 cities in Shandong will be connected by high-speed rail, and by the end of the “13th Five-Year Plan,” the province's operating mileage of express railways will reach 3,000 kilometers.
　　It is understood that during the “13th Five-Year Plan” period, Shandong Province will focus on building high-speed rail projects such as the Jinan-Qingdao High-Speed Railway, Shijiazhuang-Jinan Passenger Dedicated Line, Lunan High-Speed Railway, and Weifang-Laixi High-Speed Railway, as well as intercity railway projects such as Jinan-Laiwu and Jinan-Binzhou. The province has built a high-speed rail network of “two horizontal, two vertical and dual radiation” lines, basically forming a “1, 2, 3-hour” high-speed rail transportation circle centered on Jinan and Qingdao.
　　As the first high-speed railway approved by the state for local independent investment and construction, the Jinan-Qingdao High-Speed Railway has accumulated investment of 22 billion yuan, laying a solid foundation for opening to traffic in 2018. The project will achieve full-line opening by the end of 2018. The Lunan High-Speed Railway is the high-speed railway with the largest scale, longest mileage, most complex construction conditions, and largest辐射 population in Shandong Province since the founding of the People's Republic of China. The Rizhao-Qufu section of the Lunan High-Speed Railway officially started construction in 2016. On October 26, 2017, the first box girder was erected on the Rizhao-Linyi section of the Lunan High-Speed Railway. The project will be completed and opened to traffic in 2020. The Weifang-Laixi High-Speed Railway connects to the Jinan-Qingdao High-Speed Railway in the west and the Qingdao-Rongcheng Intercity Railway in the east. After it is completed and opened to traffic in 2019, it will play an important role in strengthening external passenger transport corridors in areas such as Yantai and Weihai. The Qingdao-Lianyungang Railway successfully completed the erection of 2,900 spans and 5,800 T-beams on December 20, 2017, and is expected to open to traffic next year. After completion, it will realize a “1-hour economic circle” between Qingdao and Rizhao, a “1.5-hour economic circle” between Yantai and Rizhao, and a “2-hour economic circle” between Jinan and Rizhao. The Zhengzhou-Jinan High-Speed Railway is planned to be completed and opened to traffic in 2020. In the future, the fastest journey from Zhengzhou to Jinan will take just over one hour, and to Qingdao only 3 hours.