It was learned on November 25th that the Environmental Impact Assessment Unit of Wuhan-Yichang Section of Shanghai-Chongqing High-speed Railway (High-speed Railway along the Yangtze River) and China Railway Fourth Survey and Design Institute Group Co., Ltd. publicized the “Environmental Impact Report on the Wuhan-Yichang Section of the New Railway Shanghai-Chongqing High-speed Railway” (Draft for Comment), whichshows that the long-waited Wuhan-Yichang high-speed rail by Hubei peopleis expected to be builtat the end of the year.

　　The main line of Wuhan-Yichang section is 295.432km (303.924 km from Hankou to Yichangbei)long, designed as double-track, with a speed of 350 km/h, and with a total investment estimated to be 52.27 billion yuan, and a 4-year construction period. The report announced in detail the route and the size and layout of each station.

　　According to the report, the High-speed Rail along the Yangtze River will run through Wuhan (Dongxihu District, Qiaokou District), Xiaogan (Yingcheng City, Hanchuan City), Tianmen, Jingmen (Zhongxiang City, Jingshan City, Qujialing) andYichang (Yiling District, Dang Yangshi). There will be seven stations within the section, comprisingone existing station, Hankou Station, and 6 to-be-built stations, namely,Hanchuan East Station, Tianmen North Station, Zhongxiang South Station, Jingmen West Station, Dangyang West Station, Yichang North Station, andareserved one, Jingshan South Station.

　　The section will be connected to the Hefei-Wuhan High-Speed Railway, Beijing-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway, Wuhan-Kowloon High-Speed Railway and Wuhan-Huanggang-Huangmei Railway through the Wuhan hub at the eastern end, and to the proposed Yichang-Zhengwan High-Speed Railway Liaison Line and Chongqing-Yichang High-Speed Railway at the western end. The project is an important part and key section of the high-speed railway along the Yangtze River, an important part of the intercity railway network both of the Wuhan City Circle and between the Wuhan City Circle and the Yichang-Jingzhou-JingmenCity Group.When completed, it will become the backbone of passenger transport in the Yangtze River Economic Belt’s integrated three-dimensional transportation corridor and will be a high-speed railway with medium- and long-distance passenger flowsas the main focus, taking into account intercity passenger flow.

　　The Wuhan-Yichang section has beenlisted as one of the major “4+2” railway projects to make up the gap after the epidemic in our province. On September 16th, the Jingjing Railway took the lead in the “4 plus 2” major project construction in our province. In accordance with the principle of “Go all out to start building as soon as possible”,such projectsas the Hubei section of the Xi’an-Siyan high-speed railway, the Wuhan-Yichang section, the Xiangyang-Jingmen high-speed railway are being pushedforward against time, meant tostart construction within the year, so as tohelp turntheprovince intoa high-speed railway powerhouse. (Reporter Dai Hui)