Aug 18, 07:14 AM

China Tunnels Under Yellow River as Summer Rail Trips Surge to 712 Million

China’s transport authorities reported that the national railway network handled more than 712 million passenger trips between 1 July and 17 August, a 4.1% increase from a year earlier. Rail operators ran an average of 14.84 million passengers on 11,298 trains each day during the summer travel rush. The uptick in traffic is mirrored on individual corridors. The Harbin–Qiqihar high-speed line in Heilongjiang Province has now carried more than 100 million passengers since it opened, with its bullet trains covering almost 82 million kilometres on the northernmost section of China’s high-speed grid. To accommodate rising demand, China is pressing ahead with large-scale civil-engineering projects. Workers on Sunday bored through the 5.75-kilometre Huanggang Road Yellow River Tunnel in Jinan, creating what officials say is the world’s widest-diameter underwater shield tunnel at 17.5 metres. The link is expected to shorten cross-river road journeys once fitted out and opened to traffic. Another milestone came on Saturday with the breakthrough of the 8,792-metre Helan Mountains rail tunnel connecting Inner Mongolia and Ningxia. The tunnel clears the last major obstacle on the planned 111-kilometre, 200 km/h Yinchuan–Bayanhot railway, slated for commissioning in 2026.