China's first privately-held high-speed railway starts track laying

China's first private capital-held high-speed railway, the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou railway, entered the track-laying stage on February 1, according to Zhejiang News.

The construction of the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou railway, which started at the end of 2017, is one of the first eight railroads in China with private investments.

It is jointly financed by private capital, China Railway Corporation, Zhejiang Provincial Transportation Group, and local governments, with a total investment of RMB 44.89 billion for the mainline project and RMB 7.83 billion for the second phase.

After all 56 tunnels have been completed, the railroad entered the track laying stage today and is expected to be ready for operation by the end of this year.

The track laying progress of the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou railway is more than 6 kilometers per day, and the highest progress can reach 9 kilometers per day.

The locomotive reconnection control system and locomotive resistance braking system are installed and track laying is expected to be completed in June this year.

The Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou railway is about 266.9 km long, with a design speed of 350 km/h. From Shaoxingbei Railway Station to Taizhou Railway Station 8 stations are set up.

Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou railway will be connected to the high-speed rail network in the Yangtze River Delta region, and after completion, the travel time of the railroad from Taizhou to Hangzhou will be shortened from about 2 hours at present to about 1 hour.