The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Comprehensive Transportation System of Guangdong Province" proposes that the total investment in major transportation infrastructure projects planned for construction in Guangdong 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 denser, and the "Greater Bay Area on Rails" is coming into view.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Guangdong will build projects including the Guangzhou-Zhuhai (Macao) high-speed railway and the Zhuhai-Zhaoqing high-speed railway, push the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway and the Guangzhou-Zhuhai intercity railway into downtown Guangzhou, study a new Guangzhou-Shenzhen high-speed railway corridor, and build the Guangzhou-Shenzhen and Guangzhou-Zhuhai express corridors.

1.43 Trillion Yuan of Investment Completed During the 13th Five-Year Plan Period

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

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

Before the Plan was issued, Guangdong had already been designated a "pilot unit for building a transport powerhouse," and the "Outline of the National Comprehensive Multi-Dimensional Transport Network Plan" explicitly positions the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as a "pole" of the national comprehensive multi-dimensional transport network and an international comprehensive transport hub cluster.

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

On the solid foundation of the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the Plan sets out the overall goal for Guangdong's comprehensive transport development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period: by 2025, the layout of the comprehensive multi-dimensional transport network will be basically formed, the quality of passenger and freight transport services will improve significantly, the comprehensive transport governance capacity will be further enhanced, and a modern comprehensive transport system linking the whole province, connecting the whole country and reaching the world will be generally completed, with high-quality transport development leading the country.

"To achieve these goals, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period Guangdong must take the lead in forming a collaborative development pattern of 'corridor + hub + network,'" 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 strong accumulated advantages in both domestic and external economic scale and in radiating both domestically and internationally. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Guangdong must build a strategic fulcrum for the new development pattern and further open up comprehensive transport corridors both internally and externally.

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

Boosting rail transit construction and accelerating connectivity within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a major focus of the Plan. Guangdong had long been planning to build the "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 was once one of the regions with the most developed urban rail transit in China. In 2020, the "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, forms the four poles of the national comprehensive multi-dimensional transport network and plays an important role in the national comprehensive transport layout. To further promote connectivity in the Greater Bay Area, the Plan proposes to focus on strengthening links among the poles, connecting the two sides of the Pearl River Estuary, and linking the mainland with Hong Kong and Macao; to build a rapid transport network in the Greater Bay Area with high-speed railways, intercity railways and high-grade highways as its backbone; and to accelerate the formation of a one-hour living circle.

Shenzhen and Zhuhai Join Hands: Planning for the Lingdingyang Channel Accelerates

To further promote integration of the two sides of the Pearl River Estuary, the layout of cross-estuary channels must be improved. The Plan proposes accelerating the construction of highway channels such as the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, the Huangmaohai Cross-Sea Channel, the Shiziyang Channel and the Lianhuashan Channel, while improving supporting feeder roads on both sides. It also calls for advancing railway channels such as the Shenzhen-Jiangmen railway, the Foshan-Dongguan intercity railway and the Zhongnanhu intercity railway, studying and demonstrating a Lingdingyang channel focused on railway functions, and planning a Shenzhen-Zhongshan intercity railway.

As for connectivity between the east and west banks of the Pearl River, existing river-crossing channels cannot meet the growing passenger and freight demand across the Pearl River Estuary. The Plan therefore makes a targeted layout and proposes new solutions.

The Lingdingyang Channel has long attracted attention. In 2020, the Zhuhai municipal government work report proposed that Zhuhai would join hands with Shenzhen to advance planning for the Lingdingyang Channel. In the same year, the Qianhai Authority of Shenzhen also published a notice of the winning bid for the research project "Qianhai Connection Planning Study for the Shenzhen-Zhuhai (Lingdingyang) Channel," clarifying the alignment on the Shenzhen side, with the prospect of a direct trip from Shenzhen's Qianhai to Zhuhai in 30 minutes.

At present, the east and west banks of the Pearl River Estuary still lack more transport 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 members of the public have wondered whether construction of the Lingdingyang Channel would still be meaningful if the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge were connected to Shenzhen. Industry insiders point out that the Lingdingyang Channel is about 20 kilometers shorter than the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, and that the latter is mainly designed 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" between the two banks of the Pearl River, then the Shenzhen-Zhuhai Channel in between can be seen as the "middle ring channel," adding new possibilities for connectivity in the Greater Bay Area.