Approved as Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, "Made in China 2025" pilot demonstration city... In the past year, Hefei's urban development has opened a new chapter. At the recently held Fifth Plenary Session of the 11th Municipal Party Committee, many good news was again announced. Xiaobu learned that the Hefei hub master plan has just been approved. This month, Hefei will also start the design of the West Station, and the Hefei-Qingdao High-Speed Railway and the new Hefei-Nanjing High-Speed Railway will both have new progress next year.
　　Hefei is planned by China's high-speed rail as a new hub center. Hefei is the capital of Anhui. In the era of "four vertical and four horizontal" lines, Hefei had only one high-speed rail plan along the Yangtze River. In the era of "eight vertical and eight horizontal" lines, the "rice-shaped" plan centered on Hefei will in the future include the Beijing-Shenzhen High-Speed Railway, Hefei-Fuzhou High-Speed Railway, Hefei-Hangzhou High-Speed Railway, Hefei-Zhengzhou High-Speed Railway, and Hefei-Bengbu-Lianyungang High-Speed Railway. Several intercity high-speed railways are also planned, namely Hefei-Lu'an Intercity, Hefei-Huainan-Bengbu Intercity, Hefei-Nanjing Intercity, Hefei-Wuhu Intercity, and Hefei-Anqing Intercity. Hefei will also become a new high-speed rail hub center during the 13th Five-Year Plan period.
　　The "rice" character pattern is emerging
　　Following the start of girder erection in Hefei's territory for the Hefei-Anqing High-Speed Railway at the end of June, more box girders have been continuously erected this month. The construction of the Shangqiu-Hefei-Hangzhou High-Speed Railway is speeding up, and the survey and design bidding for the Hefei-Xinyi High-Speed Railway has started. In the second half of the year, Hefei's high-speed rail construction has entered an "acceleration period," and the grand pattern of a "rice"-shaped high-speed rail hub is emerging.
　　Girder erection for the Hefei-Anqing High-Speed Railway in full swing
　　At 9:28 pm on June 26, the first box girder from the Feixi Girder Fabrication Yard of the Hefei-Anqing High-Speed Railway Construction Section 1 was smoothly placed on piers 103 to 104 of the Huagang Grand Bridge in Feixi County, meaning the first box girder within Hefei's territory was successfully erected.
　　Box girder erection underway in Section 1 of the Hefei-Anqing High-Speed Railway
　"This marks the transition of the section's construction from lower foundation work to upper main structure construction," said a person in charge of Section 1 of the Hefei-Anqing High-Speed Railway. This phased progress also means that girder erection is in full swing, and the girder erection work for this section is planned to be completed by June next year.
　　The Hefei-Anqing High-Speed Railway is progressing smoothly, and the preliminary design of the Anqing-Jiujiang High-Speed Railway heading south has also been jointly approved by China Railway Corporation and the three provinces of Anhui, Hubei, and Jiangxi. Efforts are being made to start construction as early as possible in the second half of this year, which will form a fast passenger transport corridor from Hefei to the Pearl River Delta. "
　　Hefei-Xinyi High-Speed Railway project officially launched
　　In the future, passengers traveling from Hefei to Xinyi and Qingdao by high-speed rail will save time and be more convenient. In early June, China Railway Corporation posted the survey and design bidding for the Hefei-Xinyi High-Speed Railway online, marking the official launch of the project by the state. At this point, the final stroke of Hefei's "rice"-shaped high-speed rail network has been made.
　　The Hefei-Xinyi High-Speed Railway connects south to the Hefei-Anqing-Jiujiang, Nanchang-Ji'an-Ganzhou, and Ganzhou-Shenzhen high-speed railways, and north to the Xuzhou-Lianyungang, Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway Second Corridor, and coastal high-speed railways, forming a fast passenger transport corridor from South China and Southwest China via Hefei to the Shandong Peninsula. It has important strategic significance for improving the national fast railway network layout, strengthening economic integration between inland and coastal areas, and supporting the construction of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Shandong Peninsula Blue Economic Zone.
　　The railway starts from the new Hefei West Station of the Hefei-Anqing High-Speed Railway, passes through Dingyuan, Mingguang, Wuhe, Si County, Sihong, and Suqian, and connects to the Xinyi South Station of the under-construction Xuzhou-Lianyungang High-Speed Railway in Xinyi, and links with the proposed Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway Second Corridor. The total length is 343.5 kilometers, with a design speed of 350 kilometers per hour.
　　Construction of the Shangqiu-Hefei-Hangzhou High-Speed Railway is speeding up
　　Last month, the first steel girder of the Xiatang Grand Bridge crossing the Huainan Railway on the Shangqiu-Hefei-Hangzhou High-Speed Railway was successfully hoisted within Changfeng County;
　　In early July, the first concrete pouring of the lower crossbeam of the No. 3 main tower of the Wuhu Yangtze River Road-Rail Bridge on the Shangqiu-Hefei-Hangzhou High-Speed Railway was completed, marking major progress in the bridge construction.
　　At present, the overall construction of the Shangqiu-Hefei-Hangzhou High-Speed Railway is advancing rapidly. One of the most important control projects, the Huaihe River Grand Bridge, is under smooth construction and is scheduled to be completed in January 2019. According to reports, the Shangqiu-Hefei-Hangzhou Railway starts from Shangqiu in Henan Province, passes through Bozhou, Fuyang, Huainan, Hefei, Wuhu, and Xuancheng in Anhui Province, and Huzhou to Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province. The main line length is about 794.55 kilometers. The line is a double-track passenger dedicated line with a target speed of 350 kilometers per hour and a minimum headway of 3 minutes. After completion, the travel time from Hefei to many places will be greatly shortened.
　　In addition, Hefei's high-speed rail era has arrived! One line to Hong Kong, one line to Taipei! Half an hour to Nanjing! 2 hours to Hangzhou! Direct to Hong Kong! 6 hours to Shenzhen and Taiwan!
　　According to the national high-speed rail "eight horizontal and eight vertical" strategic layout, the latest plan is the Beijing-Hong Kong-Taiwan corridor from Beijing via Hefei to Hong Kong Kowloon and Taipei!
　　Hefei has become a necessary passage from Beijing to Hong Kong and Taiwan, which is a great benefit to Hefei's economic development!
　　6 hours to Hong Kong and Taiwan!
　　To Hong Kong
　　Twenty years ago, the Beijing-Kowloon Railway passed by Hefei; twenty years later, the rising Baodu has become a hub of the Beijing-Kowloon High-Speed Railway! It takes only 6 hours from Hefei to Hong Kong via the Beijing-Kowloon Line!
　　To Taiwan
　　Just take the high-speed rail from Hefei to Fuzhou and then the "Fuzhou-Taipei" high-speed railway directly to Taipei. The straight-line distance is about 250 kilometers. At the current high-speed rail speed, it takes less than an hour to reach Taipei, so the whole process takes only 6 hours!
　　Hefei-Nanjing, only half an hour!
　　Looking at the map, Nanjing is closer to Anhui, so people have joked that Nanjing is the capital of Anhui. However, with the opening of the "Hefei-Nanjing Second Line," Nanjing will be even closer to Hefei!
　　The much-anticipated "Hefei-Nanjing Second Line" (Hefei to Nanjing) is planned to start construction in 2018, with a construction period of about 3 years. After completion, Hefei and Nanjing are expected to be reached within half an hour.
　　2 hours direct to Hangzhou!
　　The Shangqiu-Hefei-Hangzhou High-Speed Railway started full construction in October 2015, is scheduled to be completed in 2019, and open to traffic in 2020. By then, it will take only 2 hours from Hefei to Hangzhou.
　　6 hours to Shenzhen!
　　The Hefei-Anqing High-Speed Railway is part of the Hefei-Anqing-Jiujiang High-Speed Railway. In the future, the Hefei-Anqing-Jiujiang High-Speed Railway will connect south to the Nanchang-Jiujiang Intercity Railway, forming another high-speed rail corridor from Nanchang to Beijing. By then, Hefei to Nanchang will take about 2 hours, and Hefei to Shenzhen about 6 hours.
　　In 5 years, Hefei's 6-hour circle will include first-tier and new first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen, Nanjing, and Hangzhou, and will also directly reach Hong Kong and Taiwan! Just thinking about it is a bit exciting~
　　2020, Hefei high-speed rail radiates to all cities in the province!
　　According to Anhui's high-speed rail construction plan, by 2020, all 16 prefecture-level cities in the province will be connected by high-speed rail! From the map, almost all high-speed rail lines radiate outward with Hefei as the center!
　　The huge transportation radiation capacity has shortened the distance from cities in the province to the provincial capital! Hefei's core position in the province's economy and politics is more prominent!
　　Xiaobu learned from Hefei Railway Station that starting today, the railway department is implementing a new railway operation map. Hefei has direct trains to 24 provincial capitals (including autonomous regions) and 4 municipalities directly under the central government.
　　After the implementation of the new map on "12.28," Hefei Direct Station will operate 206 pairs of passenger trains, 3 pairs more than the "9.21" map. Hefei Station will operate 69 pairs of scheduled passenger trains (22 pairs originating), including 12 pairs of high-speed and bullet trains and 57 pairs of conventional trains. Hefei South Station will operate 137 pairs of scheduled passenger trains (58.5 pairs originating, including 32 pairs from the Hefei-Fuzhou yard and 26.5 pairs from the Shanghai-Chengdu yard), with 53 pairs in the Hefei-Fuzhou yard and 84 pairs in the Shanghai-Chengdu yard.
　　Rice-shaped industrial belt links East, Central, and West
　　What is the significance of increasing transportation infrastructure construction in the central region?
　　Gao Yuwei, a researcher at the Bank of China International Finance Research Institute, said that the central region has unique geographical advantages in building an international comprehensive transportation hub, but still needs complete infrastructure as important support. Further increasing the construction of main corridors such as high-speed rail and expressways is not only conducive to developing hub economies and promoting regional economic growth, but also conducive to supporting the rise of the central region and the "Belt and Road" construction.
　　Gao Yuwei suggested that cities can learn from the experience of Chicago, Atlanta, Memphis, and other U.S. cities to vigorously build hub-type network cities, make transportation, logistics, and related industries the comparative advantage of urban agglomerations, and thereby establish a unique position in the global value chain.
　　Zhang Guohua, dean of the Comprehensive Transportation Planning Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission's Urban Center, believes that how infrastructure combines with urban agglomerations and urbanization strategies is a transformation that China must currently achieve. He also emphasized that future investment in transportation infrastructure must interact with urbanization development to form effective investment—this will reflect the important value of promoting transportation infrastructure construction in the central region.
　　In the future, China will also have the opportunity to take the development and formation of the Central Plains urban agglomeration industrial belt as an opportunity to form a "rice"-shaped industrial belt development pattern composed of four lines—the "Longhai Line," "Beijing-Guangzhou Line," "Jinan-Zhengzhou-Chongqing," and "Taiyuan-Zhengzhou-Hefei"—on the basis of existing urban agglomerations and industrial belts, thereby promoting industrial linkage between the eastern, central, and western regions and striving to achieve more balanced regional economic development during the 13th Five-Year Plan period.
　　The "rice"-shaped high-speed rail is about to take shape. By 2020, Hefei will have built one of the most developed railway hubs in the country.