On October 29, 2026, the track laying task of the Tongjiang Extra Large Bridge, designed by China Railway Fifth Institute and constructed by China Railway 23rd Bureau, was completed. The main construction of the Jiatong Railway Capacity Expansion and Renovation Project was basically completed, and the entire line officially entered the preparation stage for acceptance.

Ten thousand meter cross-border railway bridge track laying ends

The Tongjiang Grand Bridge has a total length of 10435.14 meters and is currently the longest newly-built bridge in the three major passages of China, Europe, the West, the Middle East, and the Middle East. Among them, the proportion of bridges in the reconstruction section from Tongjiang to Tongjiang North is as high as 84%. The entire line crosses the main channel of the Songhua River and multiple wetland protection areas, and the construction process needs to cope with the extremely cold environment of minus 35 degrees Celsius in high latitude winter. The project team optimized the steel beam installation process and broke through the extreme cold construction window limit through continuous operations, ultimately completing all track laying tasks ahead of schedule.

As of the end of October 2026, the cumulative traffic volume of the East China Railway Express has exceeded 6000 trains, a year-on-year increase of 40.3%. As one of the three core ports of the East China Railway Express, Tongjiang Port has long been constrained by the bottleneck of railway transportation capacity in the rear, and can only reach about 65% of the design capacity. Before the expansion and renovation, the annual freight throughput capacity of the line was less than 22 million tons.

The transportation capacity behind the East Passage has increased by more than three times

The Jiatong Railway expansion and renovation project has a total length of 258.25 kilometers, with a focus on freight transportation while also considering passenger transportation. After the upgrade is completed, it will transform from a single track conventional speed railway to a double track electrified heavy-duty railway, with a designed speed increased to 120 kilometers per hour and a traction capacity of 5000 tons. After the full line is put into operation, the annual freight throughput capacity of the line will soar to over 68 million tons, and the daily number of train pairs will increase from 12 to 38, with an overall throughput capacity increase of more than three times.

After the renovation is completed, photovoltaic modules and electromechanical products from the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and other regions can be quickly exported from Tongjiang Port through the China Europe East Passage. Bulk goods such as timber, ore, and grain from the Russian Far East can also enter the domestic market at lower logistics costs. This upgraded mainline railway will further improve the cross-border logistics network of the East Corridor, providing stronger capacity support for the stable supply chain in Northeast Asia.Editor/Cheng Liting