Three High Speed Railways in Central Plains Open to Traffic on the Same Day

　　The Central Plains connect east and west, link north and south. Nowadays, the railway network extending in all directions makes traffic in the Central Plains more convenient.

　　The Zhengzhou-Chongqing HSR passes through Henan, Hubei and Chongqing, with a design speed of 350km/h. Its Chongqing-Wanzhou Section was put into operation in November 2016. The 389km Zhengzhou-Xiangyang Section opened this time starts from Zhengzhou East Station, runs southwest via Xuchang, Pingdingshan and Nanyang, enters Hubei Province via Dengzhou, and eventually ends in Xiangyang. A total of 11 stations are set in this section, namely, Zhengzhou East Station, Zhengzhou South Station, Changge North Station, Yuzhou Station, Jiaxian Station, Pingdingshan West Station, GuaiHe North Station (overtaking station), Fangcheng Station, Nanyang East Station, Dengzhou East Station and Xiangyang East Station, with an initial operating speed of 300km/h.

　　The 276km Zhengzhou-Fuyang HSR starts from Zhengzhou South Station, runs through Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, Xuchang, Zhoukou and other cities in Henan Province to Fuyang City in Anhui Province, with a design speed of 350km/h. The railway is set with 11 stations, namely, Zhengzhou South Station, Xuchang North Station, Yanling Station, Fugou South Station, Xihua Station, Zhoukou East Station, Huaiyang South Station, Shenqiu North Station, Jieshou South Station, Linquan Station, Fuyang West Station, with an initial operating speed of 300km/h.

　　The Shangqiu-Hefei Section of the Beijing-Hong Kong HSR starts from Shangqiu City in Henan Province in the north, passes through Bozhou City, Fuyang City and Huainan City in Anhui Province in the south, and finally reaches Hefei City. It has a total length of 378 kilometers and a design speed of 350km/h. The railway is set with 14 stations, namely, Shangqiu Station, Shangqiu East Station, Lumiao Station, Bozhou South Station, Gucheng East Station, Taihe East Station, Fuyang West Station, Yingshang North Station, Fengtai South Station, Shouxian Station, Huainan South Station, Shuijiahu Station, Hefei Beicheng Station and Hefei South Station. The initial operation speed is 300km/h.

　　Before the three HSRs were put into operation, in strict accordance with various regulations and standards, the railway sector has conducted the integrated commissioning & test, inspection, acceptance and safety assessment on various professional equipment of the three HSRs, and comprehensively optimized and adjusted the track status, pantograph-contact wire performance, train control, and communication & signaling system, ensuring that the HSR can meet the requirements for safe and stable operation.

　　In China's HSR network of "eight north-south lines and eight east-west lines", Zhengzhou-Chongqing HSR is a quick traffic corridor between the central and west regions. Upon the full completion and opening, it will connect with Chengdu-Chongqing HSR, Chongqing-Guiyang railway, and the proposed Chongqing-Kunming railway in the southwest via Chongqing terminal, and connect with Beijing-Guangzhou HSR, Xuzhou-Lanzhou HSR, and Zhengzhou-Fuyang HSR in the northeast via Zhengzhou terminal, forming a fast passenger transport corridor from southwest China to Central Plains and north China, which will play an important role in improving the transportation capacity on corridors to and from Sichuan-Chongqing region and alleviating the "traffic difficulties in Sichuan". At present, various projects in the Xiangyang-Wanzhou Section under construction are progressing smoothly. The opening of the Zhengzhou-Xiangyang Section of the Zhengzhou-Chongqing HSR has greatly shortened the space-time distance between major cities in Henan and Hubei such as Zhengzhou, Pingdingshan, Nanyang and Xiangyang, greatly facilitated the travel of people along the section, assisted the development of tourism resources and accelerated the process of poverty alleviation, which is of great significance to the coordinated development of regional economy and society and the rise of the central region. It only takes 1 hour 45 minutes, 1 hour 10 minutes and 47 minutes from Zhengzhou to Xiangyang, Nanyang and Pingdingshan respectively.

　　The completion and opening of the Zhengzhou-Fuyang HSR has rewrote the history of no HSR service in Zhoukou and Fuyang, further improved the structure of the regional HSR network, and accelerated the formation of Henan's radiated HSR network. Zhoukou and Fuyang along the Zhengzhou-Fuyang HSR are main output area of migrant workers and also the main "battlefields" for poverty alleviation. Linquan County in Fuyang City is a national poverty-stricken county and the county with the largest population in China. The opening of Zhengzhou-Fuyang HSR has facilitated people's travel along the railway, which is of great significance to promote regional economic and social development and quickly achieve the goal of poverty alleviation. The shortest travel time between Zhengzhou and Fuyang has been reduced from 3 hours and 15 minutes to less than 2 hours.

　　In China's HSR network of "eight north-south lines and eight east-west lines", Beijing-Hong Kong HSR is a major north-south line. The Shangqiu-Hefei Section opened this time has its northern end connected to the Xuzhou-Lanzhou HSR in Shangqiu, its middle end connected to the Zhengzhou-Fuyang HSR (opened at the same time) in Fuyang, and its southern end connected to Hefei-Nanjing HSR, Hefei-Fuzhou HSR, Hefei-Bengbu HSR and Hefei-Wuhan HSR in Hefei. Its completion and opening have further improved the HSR network in the central region, greatly shortened the space-time distance between the cities along the line, further facilitated the travel of the people along the line, and strengthened the ties between the northern Anhui and Hefei, the capital and between Henan and Anhui. It is of great significance to promote the poverty alleviation in northern Anhui region and drive the rise of the central region.