On November 21, the "Reply of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Transport on the Preliminary Design of the New Shenzhen-Nanning High-Speed Railway Project from the Pearl River Delta Hub Airport to the Provincial Boundary Section" (Yue Jiao Tie [2023] No. 496) was officially issued. The preliminary design of the Guangdong section of the Shenzhen-Nanning High-Speed Railway has been approved and is expected to officially commence construction before the end of the year.

The Shenzhen-Nanning High-Speed Railway is the first high-speed railway project with a design speed of 350 km/h to start construction between Guangdong and Guangxi provinces.

This project connects with the Nanning-Yulin-Cenxi High-Speed Railway under construction in Guangxi, as well as the Zhuhai-Zhaoqing High-Speed Railway's Pearl River Delta Hub Airport to Jiangmen section and the Shenzhen-Jiangmen Railway under construction in Guangdong, jointly forming part of the Shenzhen-Nanning High-Speed Railway corridor.

At present, the fastest high-speed rail travel times from Nanning to Guangzhou and Shenzhen are approximately 2.7 hours and 3.5 hours respectively. Once the Shenzhen-Nanning High-Speed Railway is completed, the fastest travel times will be only about 2 hours and 2.5 hours.

The project adopts a model of introducing social capital for investment and construction, and is a key construction project of Guangdong Province. It has been included in the "14th Five-Year Plan Railway Development Plan" (Fa Gai Ji Chu [2021] No. 1948) and the "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Infrastructure Interconnection Plan" (Fa Gai Ji Chu (2020) No. 830).

The total estimated budget for the preliminary design of the project is 27.77 billion yuan, with a planned total construction period of 4 years.

The key contents of the "Reply" are excerpted as follows:

1. Route Alignment and Construction Scale

The new Shenzhen-Nanning High-Speed Railway Pearl River Delta Hub Airport to Provincial Boundary Section starts from the newly built Pearl River Delta Airport Station, passes through Gaoming District of Foshan, Gaoyao District of Zhaoqing, Yuncheng District of Yunfu, and Luoding City, and connects through to the newly built Guangxi Yulin-Cenxi (Guangxi-Guangdong Provincial Boundary) Section.

The main line has a total length of 142.322 kilometers, with 25 extra-large bridges totaling 42,168.79 meters, 56 large bridges totaling 14,344.25 meters, 19 medium bridges totaling 1,437.04 meters, 51 tunnels totaling 72,153.32 meters, and 3 stations.

Main technical standards: Railway grade: high-speed railway; design speed: 350 km/h.

2. Transport Organization

Only EMU trains will operate on this line, adopting a transport organization model of co-line operation of trains on this line and cross-line trains. The train running direction is designed with Cenxi East to Pearl River Delta Hub Airport as the down direction.

This project includes 3 stations: Pearl River Delta Airport (excluding), Yunfu, and Luoding North. Pearl River Delta Airport Station is a station under construction on the Guangzhou-Zhanjiang High-Speed Railway, while Yunfu Station and Luoding North Station are newly built stations on this line.

It is in principle agreed that the next-stage design shall be carried out with the section from Pearl River Delta Airport Station (excluding) to Luoding North Station (including) and the section from Luoding North Station (excluding) to the provincial boundary operated and managed by China Railway Guangzhou Group Co., Ltd. and China Railway Nanning Group Co., Ltd. respectively.

3. Route

(1) Provincial boundary to Luoding North section. It is in principle agreed to adopt the scheme of crossing the Yunkai Mountains in tunnel form from the provincial boundary, following the Shenzhen-Cenxi Expressway to the northwest side of Luoding City where Luoding North Station is located.

(2) Luoding North to Yunfu section. It is in principle agreed to adopt the scheme whereby the line, after leaving Luoding North Station, turns northeast, passes through Dajin Mountain, and arrives at Chucheng Village on the south side of Yunshi Avenue in Yunfu City where Yunfu Station is located. For the section from DK368+600 to DK383+405, the scheme of a 14.8-kilometer Yuncheng Tunnel is adopted.

(3) Yunfu to Pearl River Delta Hub Airport section. It is in principle agreed to adopt the scheme whereby the line, after leaving Yunfu Station, crosses over the Guangzhou-Kunming Expressway, the Xinxing River, and the Foshan-Zhaoqing-Yunfu Expressway, and enters Pearl River Delta Airport Station via a horizontal curve with a radius of 5,200 meters.

4. Stations and Yards

(1) Yunfu Station. It is in principle agreed to adopt the station site scheme on the east side of Yunfu City near Yunshi Avenue. Six arrival-departure tracks (including the main line), two island platforms, and one cross-line facility shall be provided. One comprehensive maintenance workshop shall be provided on the left side opposite the station.

(2) Luoding North Station. It is in principle agreed to adopt the station site scheme on the north side of Luoding City near the expressway. Six arrival-departure tracks (including the main line), two island platforms, and one cross-line facility shall be provided. One comprehensive maintenance work area shall be provided on the same left side as the station. In addition, conditions for a conventional-speed passenger station on the Luoding-Cenxi Railway shall be reserved, with a scale of three arrival-departure tracks (including the main line) and one side platform.

5. Buildings

The scale of the station buildings at Yunfu Station and Luoding North Station shall be controlled at 16,000 square meters and 12,000 square meters respectively for the time being; the land for railway self-operated parking facilities shall be controlled at 15,000 square meters each for Yunfu and Luoding North Stations.

The construction unit shall promptly organize the solicitation of station building schemes; once the schemes are determined, the preliminary design of the station buildings and related works shall be immediately organized and handled in accordance with construction management regulations and procedures.

The total building area of the project shall be controlled at 70,810 square meters (including 28,000 square meters for the station buildings of Yunfu and Luoding North Stations).

6. Construction Organization Design and Budget Estimate

(1) The total construction period of the project shall be arranged at 4 years (including joint commissioning and testing and trial operation).

The track-laying works shall be analyzed on the basis of temporarily setting up a track-laying base near Luoding North Station; the works of this section shall be analyzed on the basis of setting up 4 prefabrication (storage) yards for prestressed concrete simply supported box girders and 1 prefabrication yard for double-block sleepers.

(2) Upon review, the approved preliminary design budget estimate for the new Shenzhen-Nanning High-Speed Railway Pearl River Delta Hub Airport to Provincial Boundary Section project is 27,769,356,600 yuan. Of this, static investment is 24,467,273,100 yuan, interest on investment loans during the construction period is 1,130,296,300 yuan, rolling stock (EMU) purchase cost is 1,440,000,000 yuan, working capital is 22,406,400 yuan, and other items are 709,380,800 yuan.

This project bears the shared investment for electromechanical and decoration works of the Pearl River Delta Hub Airport Station, with static investment of 186,000,000 yuan, which is included in this project and the interest on investment loans during the construction period is calculated accordingly; it bears the investment for the synchronously implemented works of the Pearl River Delta Airport section of the Guangzhou-Zhanjiang High-Speed Railway, with static investment of 1,706,040,000 yuan, which is included in this project and the interest on investment loans during the construction period is calculated accordingly; and it bears the static investment of 7,831,700 yuan for the Cenxi East work area of the Guangxi section reinforcement.

In order to reduce interference with the operation of this project from the subsequent construction of the Luoding-Cenxi Railway, the subgrade works where the Luoding-Cenxi Railway runs parallel to this project and are difficult to implement later, totaling about 3.0 km in length, shall be planned and designed in a coordinated manner with this project and implemented synchronously, with the investment for the corresponding scope temporarily calculated at 159,380,800 yuan (static investment, including 40,640,000 yuan for land acquisition and demolition). The investment for the synchronous implementation of the Luoding-Cenxi Railway shall be temporarily borne by this project first, and shall be further clarified later in light of the progress of the Luoding-Cenxi project.