“Land expropriation work in Shanxi and Yiting has come to the end, but missions in Houzhai and Chengxi are still heavy, thus we should accelerate our step…”Monday, Yiwu Section Engineering Construction Command Department of Hangzhou-Changsha PDL convened relevant townships and streets to report the weekly work progress, in order to sum up the project progress information and hard nuts. At the end of May, the construction team composed of 2000 builders and hundreds of engineering equipments arrived at the construction site. After that, projects like Yiwu Mashan Tunnel, Zhugaojian Tunnel, and Yiwu Xite Bridge in Hangzhou-Changsha PDL Jinhua Section firstly kicked off. At the construction site there were thunderous machine noises, which ushered in the coming of Yiwu City’s first 350km/h HSR. Q: How fast is the HSR A: Wind speed At the beginning of last year, construction of Sahnghai-Hangzhou HSR was launched, and the HSR’s designed speed hit 350km/h, thus the travel time between Hangzhou and Shanghai was reduced within 38 minutes, which aroused Yiwu citizens’ expectation: when could we build up such fast HSR? After one year, the dream will come true. Hangzhou-Changsha PDL was approved, which edged Yiwu City on the HSR track. How fast is the HSR? Insiders likens HSR to “Wing-free Airplane”, namely, HSR’s speed hits the takeoff speed of Boeing 747. Specifically, the travel time between Hangzhou and Changsha stays within 3 hours, and that between Yiwu and Hangzhou, 25 minutes, half of current travel time by EMU. It is only the first step. In light of the MOR’s planning, Shanghai-Hangzhou PDL and Hangzhou-Changsha PDL are only components of Shanghai-Kunming HSR, one of China’s “Four Verticals and Four Horizontals” rapid passenger channels. Shanghai-Kunming HSR (E-W) is the high-speed railway featuring the longest mileage, the largest influential scope, and most extensive coverage of provinces in China, and it runs through six provincial capitals and municipalities directly under the central government like Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanchang, Changsha, Guiyang, and Kunming. It has a total length of 2066km, and adopts double-track and electrified railway, with total investment budget of 300 billion yuan. According to the planning, the HSR will fall into three sections; of which, Shanghai-Hangzhou Section will be completed and put into running in October this year, and the Hangzhou-Changsha Section will be put into running on July 1, 2013. It is predicted that the construction of Changsha-Kunming Section will kick off in August this year, and the entire line will be put into running in 2015. Based upon the 350km/h speed, train along the Shanghai-Kunming Railway will run as fast as wind, and the travel time between Shanghai and Kunming will be controlled within 10 hours, saving 27 hours as compared to current Shanghai-Kunming Railway’s running time. After the entire line has been put into running, citizens in Yiwu City will spend their nap time to travel to Shanghai, and the travel time between Yiwu City and Kunming is also reduced to about 9 hours. Now, the dream is only accompanied by dull data, but in the near future, the dream will come true. 35km of Hangzhou-Changsha PDL in Yiwu Land Expropriation, Demolition, and Project Tendering to be Completed this year In 2006, Yiwu City invested huge to straighten its railway, which injected vigor into Yiwu City and benefited numerous residents along the railway. Construction of the new railway aroused high attention among Yiwu citizens, and lots of them anticipated that the project construction would result in Yiwu City’s prosperity. “Most of local residents along the railway are unwilling to accept the government’s demolition proposal, but Yiwu residents along the railway proactively accept the demolition”, said Mr. Wu Wenqing, Deputy Commander-in-chief of Hangzhou-Changsha PDL Yiwu Section Project. He added: new railway is bound to occupy some farmlands and villages, but Yiwu City has favorable condition. When relocating the railway line, Yiwu government took account of long-term development, thus it reserved some spaces. At present, Hangzhou-Changsha PDL basically followed existing railway’s extension direction.” As per the design plan, after being connected with Dachen of Yiwu City, the Hangzhou-Changsha PDL will be built along existing railway line’s left side, and it will intercross with Xiawang Village of Houzhai. Later, it will access Jinhua along existing railway line’s right side. In Yiwu City the Hangzhou-Changsha PDL’s total length hits 35km, and it will pass through five townships and streets like Dachen, Houzhai, Beiyuan, Chengxi, Shangxi, and Yiting. Along the Hangzhou-Changsha PDL, elevated line, which is mostly used in Shanghai-Hangzhou HSR, makes up 87% of its total length, and the left shared by 12 bridges and three tunnels, among which, Mashan Tunnel is identified as the longest tunnel in the Jinhua Section, with total length surpassing 3,000m, and the 12 bridges include several super large bridges like Dachengjiang Bridge and Yiwu East Bridge etc. From the angle of engineering volume, the Hangzhou-Changsha PDL’s construction mission is heavier as compared to the railway line relocation. In light of the planning, the construction period of Hangzhou-Changsha PDL will last for only 42 months, and in this year, the project’s tendering, land expropriation, and demolition shall be completed, thus the construction period is tense and the difficulty is high. “We should take account of both coordination and residents’ interest. That’s a huge challenge”, noted Wu Wenqing. Land expropriation and demolition area involved in the project is relatively small, but land in Yiwu costs high, so the government’s policy-based compensation is hard to meet residents’ requirements. Statistics revealed that expropriated engineering land within Yiwu Section’s red line scope was about 1,335 mu, and houses that should be demolished hit 190,000 square meters, which would involve 55 administrative villages and some enterprises along the line. In light of the policy, demolition and resettlement within the red line scope shall be based on 1:1 compensation standard. However, 10-plus administrative villages involved in the demolition expected to take such hard-won opportunity to implement old village reconstruction, which led to difficulty of fulfilling the land indexes and accordingly set hurdles to the land expropriation and demolition work. “Compared to other projects, compensation standard for land expropriation in Hangzhou-Changsha PDL has been advanced more than 20%. It is a handsome proportion”, said Wu Wenqing. As a common knowledge, Hangzhou-Changsha PDL, as the state-level key project, is a tough mission, and no one can assume the responsibility for delay. Due to this, local governments shall pull out all the stops to resolve all hard nuts. In this regard, Yiwu government took the lead: since previous month, Yiwu government embarked on land expropriation, and by now, half of land expropriation work has been completed, but demolition and resettlement is still a headache. It is extremely difficult to acquire resettlement index and fix the location, and the government should constantly persuade the mass to understand and support the government’s work, according to Wu Wenqing. One Train every 10 Minutes Bus-oriented HSR Brings about Lots of Changes It is learned that at Yiwu train station a PDL station with larger area will be newly built, with 7 arrival & departure lines, one side platform, and two island platforms being set up. As per short-term design (2020), 170 pairs of HSR trains will come and go between Hangzhou and Nanchang, and the minimum clearance is only 3 minutes, namely, there must be one train every 10 minutes. At that time, the HSR train will run as conveniently and efficiently as the bus and metro, and ticket purchasing & checking will be computerized as well. Zhejiang Provincial Government has drafted a railway traffic blueprint, and now, “Seven Lines, One Bridge, and Two Hubs” are being built simultaneously, such as Ningbo-Hangzhou HSR, Hangzhou-Ningbo HSR, Shanghai-Hangzhou HSR, Jinhua-Wenzhou Railway Capacity Expansion & Reconstruction, Jiujiang-Jingdezhen-Quzhou Railway, Hangzhou-Huangshan Railway, Qiangjiang Railway New Bridge, Hangzhou East Station Hub, and Ningbo Railway Hub, which interconnect with one another horizontally and vertically, resembling a huge spider web. After the “Seven Lines, One Bridge, and Two Hubs” have been completed, Hangzhou City in tandem with other cities and prefectures of Zhejiang Province will constitute “one-hour economic circle’ through the HSR. Besides, in accordance with China’s mid and long-term railway network planning featuring “Four Verticals and Four Horizontals”, the travel time between Beijing as the center and other provincial capitals will be shortened into 8 hours. With the advent of the HSR times, deep chasm will be turned into thoroughfare, and space-time distance between cities will be shortened as well. That is Chinese people’s long-awaited dream, and will promote the one-city effect and result in unprecedented changes to the public. “Transportation means will incur change, and travel means will become more diverse. Also, many things will become different”, said Wu Wenqing with abundant thoughts after he had full knowledge of the HSR. For instance, the flight time between Yiwu and Changsha is about 1 hour, but if taxi time and safety inspection time are added in, the total time is equivalent to HSR time. On average, one kilometer of HSR will cost 150 million yuan, which is bound to result in high ticket price, while the HSR ticket is still cheaper than air ticket. In addition to strong points in speed and price, HSR is safer and cozier, and it is more stable than current EMU. In face of HSR, civil aviation and automobile industries will firstly suffer pressure. After the travel time has been shortened, the public’s concept of tourism and consumption will be altered accordingly. Just envision that you take your knapsack to directly travel to your favorite place in short time at weekend instead of negotiating with the travel agency for a long time. HSR’s running has brought about a series of “Catfish Effects”. Aside from improving the people’s livelihood, “HSR Economy” will gradually exert its functions and bring all-round influences. For instance, more people flows, cash flows, and information flows will gather in Yiwu City, with the result that Yiwu City’s radiating capacity will be greatly improved. That will be of great significance for Yiwu City’s logistics center construction and merger with Yangtze River Delta etc. References Hangzhou-Changsha PDL, the Phase I Project of Shanghai-Kunming PDL Construction Project, starts from Hangzhou in the east and passes through Jinhua, Quzhou, Shangrao, Yingtan, Wuzhou, Nanchang, Xinyu, Yichun, and Pingxiang to access Changsha City, and it spans over Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Hunan provinces. On the whole, the Hangzhou-Changsha PDL has the same route as the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway, and its total length hits 933km. In addition, Hangzhou East Station, Nanchang West Station, and Changsha South Station serve as the departure stations, and in the whole line there are 21 stations. Hangzhou-Changsha PDL Jinhua Section is about 99km long, and it starts from Pujiang Super Large Bridge in the east, and then passes through five townships & streets (like Zhengjiawu of Pujiang and Dachen of Yiwu) and 21 townships & streets of five counties (cities, districts) like Fu Village, Xiaoshun, Tanya, Caozhai, Chisong, Dongxiao Street of Jindong District, Chenbei Street, Qianxi Township, Bailong Bridge, Jiangtang of Wucheng District, Jinhua Prizon, Luofu, Yangfu, Yangxi, and Lanxi Shanghua Street etc. Along the line there are 27 elevated bridges (the largest bridge is Tangxi Super Large Bridge, with total length of 17,143m), six tunnels (Yiwu Mashan Tunnel identified as the longest tunnel), and one interchange (Bayi North Street Interchange in Jinhua downtown), with total investment budget hitting 11.7 billion yuan. “Four Verticals and Four Horizontals” is recognized as the core for China’s mid and long-term HSR development. In light of the “Four Verticals and Four Horizontals” plan, China will build up the high-speed passenger transportation channel between provincial capitals and large-middle cities so as to form 1h-2h traffic circle and gradually achieve independent passenger/freight transportation. “Four Verticals” includes: 1). Beijing-Shanghai HSR, with total length of 1,318km, passes through developed regions in Rim-Bohai Sea Region, Yangtze River Delta Region, and Coastal Region. 2) Beijing-Wuhan -Guangzhou –Shenzhen (Hong Kong) HSR, with total length of 2,350km, connects North China, Central China, and South China. 3). Beijing –Shenyang (Dalian) –Harbin HSR, with total length of 1,612km, connects Northeast and regions inside the Great Wall. 4). Shanghai –Hangzhou -Ningbo -Fuzhou –Shenzhen HSR, with total length of 1,650km, links Yangtze River region, SE coastal region, and Pearl River Delta region. “Four Horizontals” is made up of: 1)Qingdao -Shijiazhuang –Taiyuan HSR, with total length of 906km, connects North China and East China. 2). Xuzhou –Zhengzhou –Lanzhou HSR, with total length of 1,346km, connects Northwest and East China. 3). Shanghai –Nanjing -Wuhan –Chongqing –Chengdu HSR, with total length of 1,922km, links Southwest and East China. 4). Shanghai -Hangzhou -Nanchang -Changsha –Kunming HSR, with total length of 2,264km, connects Central China, East China, and Southwest China.
