World Natural Heritage World Geopark The First National Forest Park of China
The high-speed passenger-dedicated Wuhan-Guangzhou railway, as the south section of the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway, spans over Hubei, Hunan and Guangdong provinces. It starts from the Wuhan New Railway Station in Wuhan city, capital of central China's Hubei Province, and ends in the Guangzhou New Railway Station in Guangzhou city, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, via such stations as Xianning, Chibi, Yueyang, Changsha, Zhuzhou, Hengyang, Shaoguan, and Huadu. The line extends 1,068.6 km in full length with a total investment of 116.6 billion yuan (about 17 billion U.S. dollars).
The construction work started from Jun. 23, 2005. On Dec. 9, 2009, the railway made its trial operation with a complete success and was officially put into operation on Dec. 26. The Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed trains run at a designed speed of 350 km per hour and reached a maximum speed of 394 km per hour in the trial run, ranking the top in the world. After its opening to traffic, the 10.5-hour trip between Wuhan and Guangzhou has been shortened to three hours. The ticket prices from Wuhan to Guangzhou are divided into three classes, ranging from 490 yuan (72 U.S. dollars) to 780 yuan (114 U.S. dollars).
The line earned its name on the list of the World Record Association of China as the line of its kind with the longest mileage, the highest technical standard, the biggest investment, and the highest ticket price in China, boasting several tops of China and the world.
Hubei: The Wuhan-Guangzhou line Hubei section covers 173 km in length, with three stations set up in the province, namely, the Wuhan New Railway Station, the Xianning North Railway Station, and the Chibi South Railway Station.
Hunan: The Wuhan-Guangzhou line Hunan section spans 518 km in length, with eight stations located in the province, namely, the Yueyang East Railway Station, the Miluo East Railway Station, the Changsha South Railway Station, the Zhuzhou West Railway Station, the Hengshan West Railway Station, the Hengyang East Railway Station, the Leiyang West Railway Station, and the Chenzhou West Railway Station.
Guangdong: The Wuhan-Guangzhou line Guangdong section extends 298 km in length with four stations newly built in the province, including the Shaoguan Railway Station, the Qingyuan Railway Station, the Guangzhou North Railway Station, and the Guangzhou South Railway Station. The total length of bridges accounts for approximately half of the total mileage of the railway. As for the Shaoguan-Huadu section only, there are 39 large and medium-sized and grand bridges as well as 20 tunnels, 2 frame bridges, and a highway overpass railway bridge.
