According to the Jiangsu Provincial Transportation Department, a new round of Yangtze River crossing construction was fully launched this month. After the feasibility study outlines for the Changtai and Zhangjing crossings passed review, two more crossings have entered the survey and design stage before construction: the Nanjing Shangyuanmen Yangtze River Tunnel on the Ninghu Railway and the road-rail dual-purpose Yangtze River Bridge for the Yancheng-Taizhou-Wuxi-Changzhou-Yixing Railway. Among them, the Ninghu High-speed Railway is expected to start construction next year. According to the latest plan, during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, Jiangsu strives to start construction of 10 more Yangtze River crossings!

　　Shangyuanmen Yangtze River Tunnel

　　Ninghu and Beiyanjiang High-speed Railways to Connect to Nanjing Station via This Tunnel

　　The focus of this round of high-speed railway construction in Jiangsu is in northern Jiangsu, but how will the high-speed railways in northern Jiangsu enter southern Jiangsu? The Shangyuanmen Yangtze River Tunnel in Nanjing is a key node project. Both the Ninghu Railway and the Beiyanjiang High-speed Railway will rely on it to connect to Nanjing Station.

　　The Ninghu Railway starts from Huai'an, goes south through Hongze, Jinhu, Tianchang in Anhui, Luhe District in Nanjing to Nanjing North Station, and further extends south to connect to Nanjing Station via the Shangyuanmen Yangtze River Tunnel. The main line is about 203 kilometers long, of which about 163 kilometers are in Jiangsu Province and about 40 kilometers in Anhui Province. The recommended design speed is 350 km/h.

　　The Beiyanjiang High-speed Railway passes through Nanjing, Yangzhou, Taizhou, Nantong, and Shanghai, running through the entire central Jiangsu region, with a target design speed of 350 km/h. This high-speed railway will also pass through Nanjing's Liuhe West Station and then connect to Nanjing Station via the Shangyuanmen Yangtze River Tunnel. Therefore, the Shangyuanmen Yangtze River Tunnel can be said to be the "throat" project of these two important high-speed railways.

　　It will be the second pure railway Yangtze River crossing in Jiangsu

　　On September 27, the Jiangsu Provincial Railway Office issued a bidding announcement to launch the feasibility study and survey and design of the Shangyuanmen Yangtze River Tunnel. According to the special research results of the Shangyuanmen Yangtze River Tunnel, combined with the national approved Yangtze River crossing plan and the opinions of the railway and local governments, the Shangyuanmen Yangtze River Tunnel will cross the river by tunnel, with a length of about 13 kilometers. The location of the Shangyuanmen Yangtze River Tunnel is close to the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, near the existing Metro Line 3 river crossing tunnel. This will be the second pure railway Yangtze River crossing in the Jiangsu section of the Yangtze River, after the Nanjing Dashengguan Yangtze River Bridge.

　　According to the bidding plan, the feasibility study report for this crossing will be completed within 8 months after the winning bid.

　　As part of the Ninghu Railway, it is planned to start construction next year

　　The Shangyuanmen Yangtze River Tunnel is being tendered as part of the Ninghu Railway.

　　Without the Ninghu Railway, the three cities of Lianyungang, Suqian, and Huai'an would not be able to enter Nanjing's "1.5-hour high-speed rail circle." The starting point of the Ninghu Railway is located at the intersection of the two under-construction high-speed railways: Xuzhou-Suqian-Huai'an-Yancheng and Lianyungang-Huai'an-Yangzhou-Zhenjiang. After completion, Nanjing and Huai'an will be connected in 1 hour, and Suqian and Lianyungang may also reach Nanjing within 1.5 hours.

　　According to the latest news, the Ninghu Railway is initially planned to start construction in 2018, and the Beiyanjiang High-speed Railway has also been included in the 2018 construction start projects.

　　Jiangyin Third Channel

　　Another river-crossing bridge to be built between Jiangyin and Jingjiang

　　The road-rail dual-purpose Yangtze River Bridge for the Yancheng-Taizhou-Wuxi-Changzhou-Yixing Railway, whose feasibility study and survey and design bidding were also launched on the 27th, will effectively reduce the burden on the Jiangyin Bridge.

　　The announcement shows that the Yancheng-Taizhou-Wuxi-Changzhou-Yixing Railway will cross the river via a road-rail combined bridge to fully leverage the comprehensive benefits of the crossing. The north bank of the Yancheng-Taizhou-Wuxi-Changzhou-Yixing Railway Yangtze River Bridge is located in Jingjiang City, Taizhou, and the south bank in Jiangyin City, Wuxi. The bridge is planned to have a 6-8 lane highway on the upper deck and a four-track railway on the lower deck, with a total length including approach bridges of about 7 kilometers. This new river-crossing bridge will be located at the "Jiangyin Third Channel," 3,400 meters downstream of the Jiangyin Bridge, literally "close at hand." In the future, through north-south connections, it will integrate into the expressway networks of southern and northern Jiangsu, providing new crossing options for vehicles from the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway, Ningtong Expressway, and Yanjiang Expressway.

　　It is also the river crossing for the Yancheng-Taizhou-Wuxi-Changzhou-Yixing Railway

　　Cars on the upper deck, high-speed trains on the lower deck. This much-watched river-crossing bridge will also serve the Yancheng-Taizhou-Wuxi-Changzhou-Yixing Railway and the Xinchang Railway for river crossing.

　　The Yancheng-Taizhou-Wuxi-Changzhou-Yixing Railway starts from Yancheng, goes south through Xinghua, Taizhou, Taixing, Jingjiang, crosses the Yangtze River to Jiangyin, and then through Wuxi and Changzhou to Yixing. The main line is about 292 kilometers long, with a recommended design speed of 350 km/h.

　　The survey and design project of the Yancheng-Taizhou-Wuxi-Changzhou-Yixing Railway is being tendered together with the bridge, and the preliminary design will be completed within 5 months. Although due to reasons such as railway speed increases, construction did not start in 2017, according to the schedule, this railway is also expected to start construction next year.

　　10 New Yangtze River Crossings

　　Striving to start construction in the next 3 years

　　Under the grand layout of Jiangsu's Yangtze River Economic Belt development strategy and the Yangtze River City Cluster integration development strategy, Jiangsu's transportation sector is seizing the new "golden period" of transportation construction, and the planning and construction of Yangtze River crossings are advancing by leaps and bounds. On the basis of the existing 14 crossings, 3 more river crossings are under accelerated construction. In the remaining more than 3 years of the 13th Five-Year Plan, the province will also strive to start construction of 10 more river crossings to comprehensively enhance the infrastructure support capacity for cross-river integrated development.

　　One of these 10 river crossings, the Nanjing Heyan Road Yangtze River Tunnel, is planned to start construction next month. Together with the simultaneously built west section of the Puyi Highway on the Jiajiang River, after completion, a new free river crossing will be added between the north of Nanjing and Jiangbei. Each river crossing not only connects the expressways and high-speed railways on both sides of the Yangtze River but will also become a high-speed channel for exchanges between cities along the river and for the integrated development of southern and northern Jiangsu.