On October 9, the reporter learned from the Hangzhou Municipal Development and Reform Commission that the "Hangzhou Railway Hub Plan" (2016—2030) has recently been jointly approved by China Railway Corporation and the Zhejiang Provincial People's Government.

According to this latest plan, the number of high-speed rail lines introduced into Hangzhou will expand from the current 5 to 11, and the main high-speed rail passenger stations will increase from 3 to 6; Hangzhou will form an overall railway hub layout of "one axis, two wings, double crosses, double rings, and six passenger stations", becoming a large radial railway hub and a "city of high-speed rail". The 6 newly introduced high-speed rail lines are the Shangqiu-Hefei-Hangzhou High-Speed Railway from Huzhou to Hangzhou West, the Hangzhou-Wenzhou High-Speed Railway from Yiwu to Hangzhou West, the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou High-Speed Railway, the Shanghai-Zhapu-Hangzhou High-Speed Railway, the Hangzhou-Lin'an-Jixi High-Speed Railway, and the Shanghai-Hangzhou Intercity Railway; the newly built high-speed rail passenger stations are Hangzhou West Station, Xiaoshan Airport Station, and Jiangdong Station.

After these high-speed rail lines are completed and opened to traffic, Hangzhou will have access to 9 directions including Shanghai, Nanjing (Beijing), Hefei, Huangshan, Wuhan, Nanchang, Wenzhou, Taizhou, and Ningbo, and travel times by high-speed rail to many cities will be greatly shortened. For example, for out-of-province destinations, it will take only about 3 hours from Hangzhou to Wuhan, about 6 hours to Hong Kong, and one can also take high-speed rail directly to Pudong Airport; for other cities within the province, it will take only about 1 hour from Hangzhou to Taizhou and Wenzhou.

The Hangzhou-Lin'an-Jixi High-Speed Railway, which passes through Lin'an District of Hangzhou, will achieve full high-speed rail coverage for all districts, counties (cities) under Hangzhou's jurisdiction. As a provincial capital city, the approval of the new Hangzhou railway hub plan will also drive the development of brother cities across the province. For example, after the Hangzhou-Lin'an-Jixi High-Speed Railway is completed, high-speed trains departing from Ningbo can enter Hangzhou West Station via connecting lines, thereby opening a westward high-speed rail corridor for the coastal areas of Zhejiang. After the Hangzhou railway hub is completed, a one-hour transportation circle for the whole province will also basically take shape.

An important reason for revising the Hangzhou railway hub plan is that the current status of the railway hub does not match Hangzhou's urban development pattern and urban industrial layout. Chen Zhoubin, Director of the Comprehensive Transportation Division of the Hangzhou Municipal Development and Reform Commission, said: "At present, Hangzhou East Station, Hangzhou Station, and the soon-to-be-opened Hangzhou South Station are basically on the same axis, located in the eastern part of Hangzhou. The new plan is to improve the multi-point ring line and achieve a balanced layout." According to the newly revised plan, two high-speed rail stations, Hangzhou West Station and Jiangdong Station, will be added to provide strong support for the rise of the two major areas of Chengxi and Dajiangdong, and to expand the space for Hangzhou's urban development.

After the railway hub is completed, the number of high-speed rail lines introduced into Hangzhou will exceed those of Shanghai, Nanjing, and Hefei, ranking first among cities in the Yangtze River Delta, further consolidating and enhancing Hangzhou's status as a national comprehensive railway hub. "This is of great significance for Hangzhou to become a regional central city," said Pan Yigang, Chief Researcher of the Zhejiang Provincial Development Planning Research Institute. Whether domestically or internationally, regional central cities all have a strong transportation network composed of shipping, air transport, railways, and highways. He commented that after the Hangzhou railway hub is completed, it will strengthen connections between Hangzhou and other cities, especially cities in the Yangtze River Delta region, accelerate the flow of people, logistics, and factors such as information, technology, and capital among cities, and promote the economic development of Hangzhou and its surrounding areas.

It is worth mentioning that one principle of this revision of the Hangzhou railway hub master plan is interconnectivity: the six high-speed rail stations will form an inner ring and an outer ring through high-speed rail lines, and all high-speed rail stations will have seamless transfers with the Hangzhou Metro. In the future, Hangzhou citizens and tourists visiting Hangzhou can completely "take the subway for intra-city travel and high-speed rail for inter-city travel".