The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Comprehensive Transportation System of Guangdong Province" proposes that the total investment in major transportation infrastructure projects during the 14th Five-Year Plan period is estimated at about 4.6 trillion yuan, of which investment in rail transit infrastructure alone reaches 2.2 trillion yuan, accounting for nearly half. By then, Guangdong's rail transit network will be more dense, and the "Greater Bay Area on Rails" is beckoning.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Guangdong will build projects such as the Guangzhou-Zhuhai (Macao) High-Speed Railway and the Zhuhai-Zhaoqing High-Speed Railway, promote the extension of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-Speed Railway and the Guangzhou-Zhuhai Intercity Railway into downtown Guangzhou, study a new high-speed railway corridor between Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and build the Guangzhou-Shenzhen and Guangzhou-Zhuhai express corridors.

1.43 Trillion Yuan Invested During the 13th Five-Year Plan Period

According to an official from the Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission, Guangdong is one of the provinces with the strongest domestic and international transport demand, the most complete modes of transportation, the most developed transportation infrastructure network, the richest service supply, the most diverse business formats, and the most active innovation momentum.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, Guangdong completed a total investment of 1.43 trillion yuan in transportation infrastructure, about 1.68 times that of the 12th Five-Year Plan period, and the scale and quality of the comprehensive transportation network improved significantly.

Before the release of the Plan, Guangdong had been designated as a "pilot unit for building a transportation powerhouse," and the "National Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network Planning Outline" clearly positions the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as a "pole" of the national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network and an international comprehensive transportation hub cluster.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan Period, Guangdong Will Take the Lead in Forming a "Corridor + Hub + Network" Linkage

On the solid foundation of the 13th Five-Year Plan, the Plan sets the overall goal for Guangdong's comprehensive transportation development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period: by 2025, the layout of the comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network will be basically formed, the quality of passenger and freight transport services will be significantly improved, the comprehensive transportation governance capacity will be further enhanced, and a modern comprehensive transportation system that connects the whole province, smooths domestic circulation, and links the world will be generally built, with high-quality transportation development leading the country.

"To achieve the above goals, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Guangdong must take the lead in forming a collaborative development pattern of 'corridors + hubs + networks,'" said Wang Ming, director and researcher of the Institute of Comprehensive Transportation of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Under the new development pattern, Guangdong has rich accumulated advantages in both domestic and international economic scale and dual domestic and international radiation. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Guangdong should build a strategic fulcrum for the new development pattern and further open up comprehensive transportation corridors both internally and externally.

Rail Transit: Building a "Greater Bay Area on Rails"

Focusing on rail transit construction and accelerating the interconnection of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a major priority of the Plan. Guangdong has long been planning to build a "Greater Bay Area on Rails." Before 2020, the operating mileage of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, and Dongguan exceeded 1,000 kilometers, and the Greater Bay Area once became one of the most developed regions for urban rail transit in China. In 2020, the "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Intercity) Railway Construction Plan" was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, and the "Greater Bay Area on Rails" moved from blueprint to reality.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, together with the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, are the four poles of the national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network and play an important role in the national comprehensive transportation layout. To further promote the interconnection of the Greater Bay Area, the Plan proposes to focus on strengthening pole connections, connecting both sides of the Pearl River Estuary, and linking the mainland with Hong Kong and Macao, build a rapid transportation network in the Greater Bay Area with high-speed railways, intercity railways, and high-grade highways as the backbone, and accelerate the formation of a one-hour living circle.

Shenzhen and Zhuhai Join Hands: Lingdingyang Channel Planning Accelerates

To further promote the integration of both sides of the Pearl River Estuary, the layout of cross-Pearl River Estuary channels should be improved. The Plan proposes to accelerate the construction of highway channels such as the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, the Huangmaohai Cross-Sea Link, the Shiziyang Channel, and the Lianhuashan Channel, and simultaneously improve the supporting collection and distribution roads on both sides. It also proposes to advance the construction of railway channels such as the Shenzhen-Jiangmen Railway, the Foshan-Dongguan Intercity Railway, and the Zhongnan-Humen Intercity Railway, study and demonstrate the Lingdingyang Channel with railway functions as the main focus, and plan the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Intercity Railway.

The connectivity problem between the east and west banks of the Pearl River, as existing river-crossing channels cannot meet the growing passenger and freight demand across the Pearl River Estuary, has also been addressed in a targeted manner in the Plan, which proposes new solutions.

The Lingdingyang Channel has always attracted much attention. In 2020, the Zhuhai Municipal Government Work Report proposed that Zhuhai would join hands with Shenzhen to advance the planning of the Lingdingyang Channel. In the same year, the Qianhai Authority of Shenzhen also released a public notice of the winning bid for the "Research on Qianhai Connection Planning of the Shenzhen-Zhuhai (Lingdingyang) Channel," clarifying the alignment on the Shenzhen side, with the prospect of a direct 30-minute trip from Shenzhen Qianhai to Zhuhai in the future.

At present, the east and west banks of the Pearl River Estuary still lack more transportation connections. The straight-line distance between Shenzhen and Zhuhai is less than 50 kilometers, but driving takes about two hours.

According to the plan, the Shenzhen-Zhuhai Channel is a cross-sea bridge connecting Zhuhai and Shenzhen, located between the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, and will serve both high-speed railway and intercity railway functions. The channel starts in Shenzhen, crosses the Lingdingyang to Zhuhai, and extends westward to Taishan and Yangjiang.

Some citizens have wondered whether the construction of the Lingdingyang Channel is meaningful if the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is connected to Shenzhen. Some industry insiders have pointed out that the Lingdingyang Channel is about 20 kilometers closer than the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, and the latter is mainly for railway functions.

If the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link is the "inner ring channel" across the Pearl River Estuary and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is the "outer ring channel" across the Pearl River, then the Shenzhen-Zhuhai Channel in between can be regarded as the "middle ring channel," adding new imagination to the interconnection of the Greater Bay Area.