In November 2025, the Yongzhou Qingyuan to Guangzhou high-speed railway (referred to as the "Yongqing Guangzhou high-speed railway"), which carries the expectations of millions of people in Hunan and Guangdong provinces, will make key progress - the project land pre-approval and site selection opinions have entered the approval stage, and the feasibility study report has been reviewed and repaired, striving to be officially approved before the end of the year, laying a solid foundation for comprehensive construction in 2026. This "golden channel" with a total investment of 95.086 billion yuan and a total length of 390.327 kilometers, as the core section of the national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network "Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Chengdu Chongqing axis", will completely connect the north-south artery of Hunan Guangdong and inject strong impetus into regional coordinated development.

The Yongqing Guangzhou High speed Railway starts from Yongzhou Station in Hunan Province, connects with the under construction Shaoyong High speed Railway, and goes south through counties and cities such as Lingling, Shuangpai, Ningyuan, and Lanshan in Yongzhou to enter Guangdong. After passing through Lianzhou, Yangshan, Jintan, and the urban area in Qingyuan, it ends at Guangzhou North Station. The entire line connects more than ten counties and districts in three cities of Hunan and Guangdong provinces, with 10 stations (7 newly built and 3 renovated), and the construction of Guangzhou North Railway Station and connecting line project is also underway. The project is constructed at a design speed of 350 km/h, of which the Hunan section is 157.425 km long with an investment of 29.495 billion yuan, and the Guangdong section is 232.902 km long with an investment of 65.6 billion yuan. With the grand construction scale of 217 bridges and 74 tunnels, the ratio of super-high bridges to tunnels has reached 84.24%, which can be called a "super project" crossing the the Nanling Mountain Mountains. In view of the complex geological conditions in the Nanling Mountain, the project will adopt advanced tunnel excavation technology, high seismic bridge design and ecological protection scheme to protect the regional ecological barrier while tackling the geological barrier.

As an important auxiliary channel of the Beijing Guangzhou high-speed railway, the construction of the Yongqing Guangzhou high-speed railway will fundamentally alleviate the transportation pressure of the Beijing Hong Kong Macao high-speed railway and build a dual high-speed railway route from the Greater Bay Area to the Chengdu Chongqing region. For the people along the line, the biggest dividend is the significant compression of time and space distance - currently, the Yongzhou Guangzhou high-speed railway needs to detour around Hengyang, which takes at least 3 hours. After the new line is completed, it will achieve a direct travel time of 1.5 hours. The central and western Hunan, western Hubei, and southeastern Chongqing regions will be integrated into the 2-hour living circle of the Greater Bay Area with just one click. Through the Guangzhou North Railway Station hub, the project can be interconnected with lines such as Guangzhou Zhuhai (Macau), Guangzhou Shenzhen Second High speed Railway, and Guangzhou Zhanjiang High speed Railway, forming a railway network pattern of "connecting Hulan to the north and the Bay Area to the south", accelerating the two-way flow of talent, capital, industry and other factors.

In terms of economic development, the Yongqing Guangzhou high-speed railway can be regarded as an accelerator for regional synergy. It will not only end the history of the "high-speed rail gap" in areas such as Qingyuan Lianzhou and Yangshan, promote the integration of the mountainous areas in northern Guangdong into the development of the "Zhurong Bay", but also open up an important channel for the radiation of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area to the northwest, and build an efficient bridge for industrial cooperation and resource complementarity between the Chengdu Chongqing Economic Circle and the Greater Bay Area. During the project construction period, it is expected to create a large number of job opportunities and drive the development of upstream and downstream industries such as construction machinery and building materials manufacturing; After completion, it will connect high-quality resources such as Yongzhou Liuzhongyuan Culture, Ningyuan Jiuyi Mountain, Qingyuan Shanshui Ecology, Guangzhou Urban Cultural Tourism, etc., creating a world-class cultural and tourism corridor. At the same time, it will provide a fast transportation channel for characteristic agricultural and manufacturing products along the route, helping rural revitalization and regional industrial upgrading.

At present, the preliminary work of the project is accelerating. Hunan and Guangdong provinces have established a cross regional collaborative promotion mechanism, and procedures such as land use approval and environmental impact assessment approval are being carried out in an orderly manner. Next, relevant departments will closely monitor the key nodes of feasibility study approval, refine the construction organization plan, optimize the details of route design, and ensure the early commencement of project construction. This "iron and steel dragon", which spans the the Nanling Mountain Mountains and connects Hunan and Guangdong, will eventually become a livelihood road, a wealth road, and a development road that will benefit tens of millions of people. It will write a rich chapter for building the main axis of Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao, Chengdu and Chongqing, and promoting the rise of the central region and the high-quality development of the Greater Bay Area.Editor/Bian Wenjun