Railway Construction "Spring Tide Surges" Jinan's "Rice Character" High-Speed Rail Hub Takes Accelerating Shape

From January to February this year, the national railway fixed asset investment reached 72.2 billion yuan, a 5.4% increase year-on-year. In this grand blueprint for nationwide railway construction, Jinan, as the core city of the Shandong Peninsula Urban Cluster, is focusing on “Project Empowerment Year” to build a “Urban Circle on Tracks.” A series of key railway projects have made breakthrough progress.

Jinan-Binzhou High-Speed Railway: Full Track Laying Underway, Countdown to Opening by Year-End

On the morning of March 10, at the Jinan-Binzhou High-Speed Railway construction site in Binzhou Station, the first pair of 500-meter-long rails was smoothly and precisely laid on the ballastless track bed of Hui Bin No. 2 Bridge, marking the official start of full track laying. This high-speed rail, designed for 350 km/h, is racing toward the goal of opening within the year.

According to the construction plan by Jinan-Binzhou High-Speed Railway Co., acceptance testing will begin by the end of July, and the project is scheduled to open by the end of December. Currently, all main projects including road, bridge, and tunnel works are completed; track laying is 75% finished; station buildings are 81% complete; and electrical works are 65% done. The land acquisition, demolition, bridge construction, and track laying base in Binzhou are all completed. The main structure and external walls of Huimin Station are finished, expected to be completed before August. Binzhou Station’s main project is complete and is expected to meet operational conditions by mid-December, synchronized with the mainline. According to the plan, the track will reach Jinan East by June, static acceptance will begin in July, and joint debugging and testing will start in August.

For Jinan, the Jinan-Binzhou High-Speed Railway is crucial to fill the shortcoming of northward high-speed rail and improve the “米” (rice) shaped hub. The line will include three new stations within Jinan: Yaowang Airport, Jiyang, and Shanghe, ending the history of no high-speed rail in Jiyang District and Shanghe County. In the future, Shanghe to Jinan East will take only 20 minutes, and the travel time between Jinan and Binzhou will be compressed to about half an hour, fully integrating the northern area into the provincial capital’s half-hour transportation circle.

Notably, Yaowang Airport Station will seamlessly connect with the terminal building, creating a new “air-rail combined transportation” model. Passengers can board planes directly after arriving by high-speed train, greatly enhancing Jinan International Airport’s transportation capacity and supporting the new and old kinetic energy conversion zone in Jinan.

Jinan-Zaozhuang High-Speed Railway: Large-Scale Construction Accelerates with Tunnels and Bridges

Meanwhile, construction of the Jinan-Zaozhuang High-Speed Railway is also in full swing. As the southeastern corridor of Jinan’s “米” shaped high-speed rail hub, since March, all 105 construction sites along the line have resumed work, entering a phase of large-scale construction.

Latest data shows that the entire line’s foundation, bridges, and tunnels are 30%, 49%, and 44% complete respectively. Among 18 tunnels, 6 are already connected; 30 continuous beams crossing Guangming Avenue and other sections have been joined. The longest Xinghua Valley Tunnel has completed 57% of excavation, 52% of arching, and 46% of lining, with full connection expected by January 2027. As the largest beam yard in Shandong Province, Tengzhou East Beam Yard is responsible for prefabricating and installing 1,045 simple support box girders, with prefabrication and installation at 38% and 37%, respectively.

In the Taishan District section, the second branch of the Jinan-Zaozhuang line is 18.6 km long, with bridges accounting for 90%. The pier and column structures are 86% complete, and 20% of the box girder installation is finished. The pile foundation construction at Taian East Station is over 92% complete. The remaining 20% of the beams for the Panghe Grand Bridge’s continuous beam crossing S103 Jinan-Zaozhuang line is accelerating, with a planned completion by mid-April.

The main line of the Jinan-Zaozhuang High-Speed Railway is 268.48 km long, with 10 stations including Jinan East, Licheng, Nanshan, Taian East, Ningyang East, Qufu East, Zoucheng, Tengzhou East, Zaozhuang South, and Taierzhuang. Construction began in December 2023, with a total duration of four years, aiming for completion and opening in December 2027. Once completed, it will connect with the Rizhao-Lankao High-Speed Railway and Jinan-Qingdao High-Speed Railway, effectively linking cultural and tourism resources of “One Mountain, One Water, One Sage,” and becoming a fast corridor connecting the provincial capital economic circle with the Lunan economic zone.

Hub Upgrades: Accelerated Station Renovations and Demolition of Tianlong Building

While mainline railways are accelerating network integration, Jinan’s railway hub functions are also being improved. The Jinan Railway Station, as the city’s gateway, is undergoing a transformative upgrade.

On March 21, at the demolition site of Tianlong Building on the south side of Jinan Railway Station’s South Square, heavy machinery was actively working. The building’s main structure has been demolished to the 5th floor, and the overall height is now roughly level with the adjacent long-distance bus station’s rain shelter. The demolition is progressing quickly and orderly. As the demolition advances, the view southward from the station’s South Square is opening up, revealing buildings along Jingyi Road that were previously obscured by Tianlong Building, reshaping the city skyline.

Tianlong Building was built in the 1990s and was once a landmark in the Jinan Railway Station area. However, with urban development and the need to upgrade transportation hub functions, its outdated layout no longer meets modern comprehensive transportation requirements. According to Jinan’s transportation deployment, the city will initiate the first phase of the Jinan Railway Station Integrated Passenger Transport Hub project this year and accelerate traffic organization optimization at Jinan West Station. In the future, Jinan Railway Station will enable seamless transfer among conventional trains, high-speed trains, subways, buses, and taxis, fundamentally improving passenger travel experience.

Meanwhile, several local railway dedicated lines serving regional economies are also being actively promoted.

“米” Shaped Hub Takes Shape: Jinan Accelerates Toward a “Rail Transit Urban Circle”

From a bird’s-eye view, multiple high-speed rail lines are extending, intersecting, and forming a network across Jinan. According to plans, by 2026, Jinan will focus on 115 key transportation projects, with an annual transportation investment of 50 billion yuan.

With the rapid advancement of projects like Jinan-Binzhou and Jinan-Zaozhuang high-speed railways, Jinan’s “米” shaped high-speed rail hub is transforming from blueprint to reality. To the south, Zaozhuang high-speed rail connects to Lunan and links with the Rizhao-Lankao High-Speed Railway, reaching Central Plains; to the north, Jinan-Binzhou high-speed rail connects with the Tianjin-Weifang High-Speed Railway (Beijing-Shanghai dual-channel) at Binzhou Station, opening a golden northbound corridor to Beijing and Tianjin. This “dual-channel” network will enable Jinan’s hub to effectively connect the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway and its auxiliary routes, greatly enhancing resilience and reliability.

From a broader perspective, the improvement of Jinan’s high-speed rail hub is not only a leap in urban transportation capacity but also a reshaping of regional economy. Zhang Ruhuahua, director of the Transportation Planning and Design Research Center at Shandong University, believes that these railway projects will connect the northern ecological, agricultural, and cultural tourism resources of Jinan with the main urban area and aviation hub, promoting the flow of talent, capital, and technology northward. This will transform the northern district from a “city backyard” into a “development frontier,” further strengthening Jinan’s radiating influence as a regional center. Additionally, the completion of the Jinan-Zaozhuang high-speed rail will deepen ties with the Lunan economic zone, forming a new regional development pattern of north-south linkage and east-west mutual support.

Laying down rails connects the network, activating the entire system. With the completion and operation of key railway projects, a broader, faster, and higher-level “Rail Transit Jinan” is speeding toward us. (Jinan Daily · Love Jinan Reporter: Zhao Shangmei)

【Source: Love Jinan】