On the morning of September 12, after three years of construction, the Chenjialing Tunnel, a controlling project of the Jinhua-Ningbo Railway, was successfully holed through!

The Jinhua-Ningbo Railway is an important component of the Yiwu-Ningbo-Zhoushan Open Corridor, a key project of the Belt and Road Initiative, and an important trunk railway in the national medium- and long-term railway network plan. The line starts at Jinhua West Station of the Shanghai-Kunming Railway and ends at Ningbo Station of the Hangzhou-Ningbo Railway. It is designed as a Class I, double-track railway for both passenger and freight traffic, with a designed operating speed of 160 km/h and a reserved speed of 200 km/h.

The Chenjialing Tunnel has a total length of 4,286 meters. It enters the mountain from Huantan Village, Jinting Town, Shengzhou City, and exits at Ou'an Village, Yulin Subdistrict, Xinchang County. The maximum buried depth of the tunnel is about 149 meters. The tunnel site area is a denuded low-mountain area with steep mountains and intense water erosion and cutting. The tunnel is poor in stability and is a major and difficult controlling project of the entire line.

The construction personnel overcame many difficulties such as variable geological conditions, complex excavation methods, frequent process conversions, and high safety risks, ensuring the smooth breakthrough of the tunnel. At the same time, during construction, the construction safety step distance was strictly controlled, and measures such as advanced support and radial grouting reinforcement were adopted in weak surrounding rock sections to ensure tunnel construction safety.

It is reported that the construction of the Jinhua-Ningbo Railway is an important project for implementing the national strategy of integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta and improving the regional railway network layout. The line will connect Jinhua and Ningbo, realizing interconnection between the world's capital of small commodities (Yiwu) and the world's largest port (Ningbo Zhoushan Port). It is of great significance for promoting the faster integration of the Ningbo region and Zhejiang Province into the Belt and Road Initiative, enhancing Ningbo's status as a comprehensive transportation hub, and boosting economic and social development along the line.