On January 21, the Xingshan Tunnel—the longest tunnel on the Yichang–Xingshan High-Speed Railway—constructed by China Railway Tunnel Group under CREC, was fully broken through.
The Yichang–Xingshan High-Speed Railway has a total length of 108.38 kilometers and a design speed of 350 km/h, serving as a key link between the Zhengzhou–Chongqing High-Speed Railway and the Shanghai–Chongqing–Chengdu High-Speed Railway. Located in Xingshan County, Yichang City, Hubei Province, the Xingshan Tunnel is a control project of the line, with a total length of 16.88 kilometers. Its main bore crosses seven fault fracture zones, with a maximum overburden depth of 1,256 meters, making the geological conditions extremely complex.
After the Yichang–Xingshan High-Speed Railway is completed and opened to traffic, travel time between Xingshan and Yichang will be reduced from the current fastest journey of two hours to around 20 minutes, while the rail travel time between Yichang and Chongqing will also be significantly shortened. This will be of great importance for improving the comprehensive, multi-dimensional transportation system of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and promoting coordinated regional development.
