Recently, the preliminary design of the new Ningbo-Zhoushan railway was approved by the Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission.

The Ningbo-Zhou Railway starts from Ningbo East Station, Ningbo Hub, passes through Ningbo Yinzhou District, Beilun District, Zhoushan Jintang Island, Cezi Island, Fuchi Island, and ends at Baiquan Town, Zhoushan City. The design speed is 250 kilometers per hour, and the main line is 76.4 kilometers long, of which the newly built line is 70.1 kilometers long and the existing line is 6.3 kilometers long. There are 33 newly built bridges with a total length of 27.764 kilometers and 17 tunnels with a total length of 35.246 kilometers.

There are 7 stations on the whole line, among which 4 stations are newly built in Beilun West, Jintang, Ma'ao, Zhoushan, 3 existing stations in Ningbo East, Qiuai, and Yunlong will be renovated, and Zhoushan Station will be equipped with a motor car parking lot. Three bridges, Xihoumen, Taoyaomen, and Fuchimen, are jointly built with the highway.

The total investment of the project is 26.989 billion yuan, and the planned construction period is 6 years. Using the PPP+PC model, the provincial and municipal governments jointly contribute 49% of the project capital (51%, 21%, and 28% of the provincial government, Ningbo, and Zhoushan respectively), and 51% of the social capital.

The project's controlling engineering Jintang Subsea Tunnel and Xihoumen Road-Rail Bridge are both world-class in difficulty.

Jintang Submarine Tunnel is currently the world's longest submarine high-speed railway tunnel with a total length of 16.18 kilometers and a construction period of 5 years.

Xihoumen Road-Rail Bridge is currently the world’s largest span high-speed rail bridge. It adopts a 1,488-meter main span of separated steel box girder cable-stayed suspension bridge scheme, and a dual-track railway and six-lane highway are arranged on the same floor. The construction period is five and a half years.

The Yongzhou Railway is a supporting transportation channel for Yiyongzhou’s open channel, an important link for Zhoushan's integration into the national rapid railway network, an important transportation infrastructure for accelerating the construction of Ningbo urban area, and a demonstration project of military-civilian integration. The Yongzhou Railway is mainly responsible for the passenger flow of the Yangtze River Delta, taking into account the regional intercity passenger flow, and reserves the transportation conditions of light and express trucks. After the completion of the Yongzhou Railway, it will take about half an hour from Ningbo East Station to Zhoushan Station, and about 1 hour from Hangzhou East Station via Ningbo East Station to Zhoushan Station, accelerating the construction of a 1-hour traffic circle in Zhejiang Province. Editor/He Yuting