Recently, the first environmental impact assessment information of the newly built Qianjiang Jishou Railway (referred to as "Qianjiang Jishou High speed Railway") was officially released, marking the countdown to the start of this cross provincial high-speed railway project with a total investment of 45.43 billion yuan. It is expected to break ground in 2026 and be completed and opened to traffic in 2030. As a key section of the national "Eight Verticals and Eight Horizontals" high-speed rail network Xiamen Chongqing Passage, this project will not only fill the high-speed rail gap in some areas of southeastern Chongqing and western Hunan, but also reshape the transportation pattern in the southwest region, injecting new momentum into the linkage between the Chengdu Chongqing economic circle and the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area.

The Qianji High speed Railway connects Chongqing and Hunan provinces and cities, starting from Qianjiang District in Chongqing in the west, passing through Youyang and Xiushan in the east, entering Huayuan and Baojing in Hunan, and ending at Jishou City. The newly built main line has a total length of about 221.9 kilometers, including 152.6 kilometers in Chongqing and 71.6 kilometers in Hunan. The entire line will be constructed according to the standard of a 350 kilometer per hour passenger dedicated line, with three new stations: Youyang West Station, Xiushan North Station, and Huayuan Station, which will eventually connect to the existing Jishou East Station. Baojing County can reach Huayuan Station in 15 minutes through a planned expressway, achieving transportation coverage of "high-speed rail connecting every county".

The engineering construction will face the complex challenges of the core area of the Wuling Mountains. The route passes through karst landforms, with prominent geological risks such as karst and landslides. The bridge tunnel ratio is as high as 94.8% - only 5.2 kilometers per 100 kilometers is the roadbed, and the rest are bridges and tunnels. The longest tunnel in the Chongqing section is 13.7 kilometers, equivalent to the length of 15 football fields, and can be regarded as a "model of high-speed railway construction in mountainous areas". To overcome technical difficulties, a professional survey and design team has been established for the project, which will adopt advanced geological exploration technology and tunnel construction technology to promote engineering construction while ensuring safety.

From the perspective of regional development, the strategic value of the Guizhou Jilin high-speed railway far exceeds that of transportation itself. In terms of road network connection, it will connect with the Chongqing Qianjiang section of the Chongqing Hunan high-speed railway, which will open in June 2025, to the west, and connect with the Zhang Jihuai high-speed railway to the east. In the future, the planned Guangqing Yong high-speed railway will go south directly to the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, which can shorten the high-speed railway mileage by about 200 kilometers and reduce the travel time by 1.5 hours for the Chengdu Chongqing region. The time and space distance between Chongqing and Changsha will be compressed to less than 3 hours, and the 3-hour transportation circle between Chongqing and Hunan will accelerate its formation.

For the 13 million people along the line, this high-speed railway is even more of a "livelihood line" and a "wealth line". After the opening of the road, it only takes one hour from Youyang to the main city of Chongqing, and 15 minutes from Huayuan to Jishou. Agricultural products such as Baojing Golden Tea and Huayuan Kiwi from Xiangxi can be directly supplied to the main city market of Chongqing in four hours. In terms of cultural and tourism integration, it will connect Chongqing Youyang Peach Blossom Spring, Xiushan Border Town, Hunan Huayuan Eighteen Cave Village, Jishou Aizhai Bridge and other characteristic scenic spots, forming the "Chongqing Hunan Cultural and Tourism Golden Corridor". It is expected that the average number of tourists along the route will increase by 30% -40% in the following year, and the occupancy rate of Xiushan homestays may double.

As the final puzzle of Chongqing's "rice shaped" high-speed rail network, the project will achieve a closed-loop high-speed rail system in the southeast direction of Chongqing after completion, leaving only four counties including Chengkou and Wuxi waiting to be connected by high-speed rail, laying the foundation for achieving "high-speed rail connectivity in every county" before 2035. At present, the project has completed the pre feasibility study and feasibility review, and the land pre-approval for the Chongqing section has been obtained. We are accelerating the preparation and preliminary design of the environmental impact assessment, and the construction preparation is proceeding in an orderly manner.

By 2030, the Guizhou Jilin high-speed railway will not only serve as a transportation artery connecting Chongqing and Hunan, but also become a core engine for promoting rural revitalization and regional coordinated development in the Wuling mountainous area, providing a solid transportation guarantee for high-quality development in the southwest region.Editor/Bian Wenjun