On February 24, at the press conference on Guangzhou's progress in building a globally important transportation hub, part of the series marking the second anniversary of the release of the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, it was introduced that Guangzhou will build a "123" rapid rail transit circle in the Greater Bay Area, creating a transportation circle with 1-hour access between Guangzhou and other major cities in the Greater Bay Area, 2-hour access to prefecture-level cities within the province, and 3-hour access to neighboring provincial capitals.

It was disclosed that Guangzhou will strengthen rapid connections with Hong Kong and Macao. The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-Speed Railway connecting line from Guangzhou South to Guangzhou Station is planned to achieve 1-hour rapid access between Guangzhou and the central urban area of Hong Kong. The Guangzhou-Zhongshan-Zhuhai-Macao High-Speed Railway and the Nansha-Zhuhai (Zhongshan) intercity railway are planned to strengthen rapid access between Guangzhou and Macao and promote the integration of Macao and Zhuhai into the national high-speed rail network.

At the same time, Guangzhou will accelerate the construction of a world-class railway hub and a railway transportation center in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. A railway hub layout featuring "multi-point departure and arrival, multi-station arrangement, passengers inside and freight outside, and interconnection" is planned, and "five main and four auxiliary" railway passenger stations will be built to put people at the center and facilitate passengers' nearby travel. New lines will be built, including the fifth and sixth lines from Guangzhou East to Xintang, the connecting line from Guangzhou to Guangzhou South, and the third and fourth lines from Guangzhou to Guangzhou East, to expand the east-west corridor capacity of the Guangzhou hub; Guangzhou East Station and Guangzhou Station will be upgraded and renovated to bring high-speed rail and intercity services into the city and enhance the transportation vitality of the central urban area.

According to the provincial work deployment, Guangzhou will focus on building 15 intercity railway projects in the Guangzhou metropolitan area over the next three years, with a length of 707 kilometers and a total investment of 398.3 billion yuan. These include 10 line projects such as the Foshan West to Guangzhou North section of the Guangzhou-Foshan circular intercity railway, the Guangzhou East to Huadu Tiangui intercity railway, the Fangcun to Baiyun Airport intercity railway, the Nansha to Zhuhai (Zhongshan) intercity railway, the Foshan via Guangzhou to Dongguan intercity railway, the Zhongnan-Humen intercity railway, the Guangzhou-Foshan-Jiangmen-Zhuhai intercity railway, the Zhaoqing-Shunde-Nansha intercity railway, the Qingyuan to Provincial Vocational Education City section of the Guangzhou-Qingyuan intercity railway, and the Guangzhou to Guangzhou North section of the Guangzhou-Qingyuan intercity railway, as well as 5 hub engineering projects such as the renovation of Guangzhou Station.

Except for the Qingyuan to Provincial Vocational Education City section of the Guangzhou-Qingyuan intercity railway and the Guangzhou to Guangzhou North section of the Guangzhou-Qingyuan intercity railway, which will continue to be the responsibility of the province, the remaining 13 projects will be led by Guangzhou to advance related preliminary research, design, investment, construction, operation, management, and other work.