Recently, new progress has been made in the feasibility study of the Zhanjiang Haikou high-speed railway project. The project passed the feasibility study report review of China Railway Group as early as May 2023. However, due to the extremely complex ferry connection project, the overall planning of the relevant port engineering needs to be adjusted, and the preliminary research work took a long time.

Recently, the Planning and Standards Research Institute of the National Railway Administration organized a team of experts covering multiple fields such as railway, water transportation, maritime affairs, and ports. They departed from Haikou, conducted on-site surveys through the Qiongzhou Strait, and held a feasibility study industry review meeting for the new Zhanjiang Haikou high-speed railway in Zhanjiang. The convening of this review meeting is of great significance, marking that the feasibility study of the Zhanhai high-speed railway project has been submitted to the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Railway Administration, officially entering the review and approval process, and taking a crucial step forward in the project's progress.

The Zhanjiang Haikou high-speed railway is an important component of the "Eight Verticals and Eight Horizontals" package (silver) sea passage and has been included in the "Medium - and Long Term Railway Network Plan". The construction of this project is crucial for enhancing the capacity of Hainan Island's external railway channels. It can inject strong impetus into Hainan's accelerated construction of a Chinese style free trade port with global influence, promote the development of an international tourism island, and facilitate deep exchanges and cooperation between Hainan and Guangdong in multiple fields such as economy and culture.

According to the feasibility study plan, the Zhanhai high-speed railway consists of two main parts: the high-speed railway main line and the ferry. The main line of the high-speed railway is the onshore part, including the Zhanjiang Xuwen section and the Haikou North Station to Haikou Station section. The newly built main line is about 132 kilometers long, with a target speed of 350 km/h. Along the way, there are Zhanjiang North, Leizhou North, Longmen West, and Xuwen North stations. The Qiongzhou Strait Cross Sea Ferry Project has a navigation distance of about 23 kilometers and will build a new north-south ferry station. The crossing will be done by people taking boats, taking about 1.5 hours. At the same time, conditions have been reserved for the construction of bridge and tunnel crossing channels. In addition, it is planned to renovate the North Port operation area of Xuwen Port train ferry, adding passenger and freight roll on/roll off functions that connect to high-speed railways while retaining the function of conventional speed train ferry, in order to meet the diversified transportation needs in the future. Keywords: high-speed engineering, high-speed construction

With the continuous advancement of the feasibility study of the Zhanhai high-speed railway, this high-speed railway line crossing the Qiongzhou Strait is gradually moving from planning to reality, and will become a major transportation artery connecting Qiongzhou and Guangdong in the future, bringing unlimited possibilities for regional development.Editor/Cheng Liting