World’s second longest high-speed rail project hits milestone

The world’s second longest high-speed railway line recently completed another milestone in its development, ahead of the scheduled opening next year.

The line, which has been built in China, known as the Shanghai-Wuhan-Chengdu high-speed line, or Huhanrong HSR, covers 2,078 kilometers in total, Railway Technology reported.

The latest part of the line’s construction, on the Zhanghe rail bridge, has now been completed, paving the way for the railway track’s full completion in 2025, according to China Daily.

The world’s longest high-speed train, also in China, is the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed line, which opened in December 2012. The track stretches over a total length of 2,298 kilometers.

The Zhanghe bridge was part of the sixth phase of development of the Wuhan-Yichang part of the Huhanrong HSR, which is being built by the China Railway Construction Corporation.

When travelling along that section of the line, between Wuhan and Yichang, the train can reportedly travel at speeds of 350 kilometers per hour, according to China Daily.

The world’s second longest high-speed rail line is comprised of seven sections, passing through four provinces and two municipalities.

It also shares a 301km section between Shanghai and Nanjing, which is on the same line as the world’s fastest high-speed rail line, the Beijing-Shanghai HSR.

The line will also improve transport in the corridor along the Yangtze River and promote the development of the Yangtze River economic belt, China Daily reported.

Newsweek has contacted the China Railway Construction Corporation via email for comment.

The company is also in the process of developing the world’s longest undersea high-speed rail tunnel project, which it started working on in May this year.

That transportation project also recently reached a milestone, when on October 22 one of the tunnels of the line broke through the seawall, enabling underwater construction to begin.

The tunnel is being built 42 meters below sea level, and comes as part of the Jintang undersea tunnel, a key component of the Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway project, which stretches 16.18 kilometers.

The organization shared footage on X, formerly Twitter, of the tunnel boring machine being used to construct the tunnel on November 4.

The world’s fastest train, Jingguang HSR, reduced the travel time between Beijing and Guangzhou to only eight hours, which was previously a 22 hour journey, according to Railway Technology.

The Jingguang HSR travels through the Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan and Guangdong provinces, and also connects 28 major Chinese cities and 35 stations.

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