Jiangsu’s Railway Investment Tops 39 Billion Yuan in First Half as Multiple Major Lines Forge Ahead

According to Jiangsu Provincial Communications Department official releases, total investment channelled into railway construction across Jiangsu Province has exceeded 39 billion yuan throughout the first six months of the year. Construction sites remain fully operational across the region, with new rail corridors rapidly taking shape to expand the province’s comprehensive high-speed rail network branded “Rail-Bound Jiangsu”.

At the construction yard of Taizhou South Station, sweltering heat mingles with constant mechanical roars. Builders from China Railway No.12 Engineering Group adopt staggered working shifts, carrying out construction work during cooler morning and evening hours while suspending heavy labour at midday to avoid extreme heat.

As a core pivotal hub along the whole route, Taizhou South Station features complex construction workflows, dense cross-discipline operations and stringent quality benchmarks. On-site management teams roll out full heatstroke prevention measures while refining construction schedules and ramping up labour and material inputs to keep all project milestones on track. Zheng Jinpu, chief engineer of the project department, confirms all bridge works on the main alignment of the North Yangtze High‑Speed Railway have been fully completed, with only the final 1.8 kilometres of ballastless track left under construction; teams push hard to complete track laying by mid‑September. Meanwhile, all substructure works for the Yancheng-Yixing High‑Speed Railway are finished, and precast box girder erection on the main line wrapped up last April. Teams now concentrate on critical cast‑in‑place girders, continuous beams and girder installation, with station terminal construction entering a full sprint phase.

In Changshu, workers carry out continuous concrete pouring at the T‑rigid frame bridge site of the Suyu Extra Large Bridge, Lot 6 of the Suzhou-Jiaxing-Ningbo High‑Speed Railway, developed by China Railway Guangzhou Engineering Bureau. Feng Jie, person in charge of the lot, states the 101.41‑metre T‑rigid frame represents the final cantilever continuous beam section within the Changshu stretch of the line. Completion of pouring marks the full closure of all continuous beam structures on this segment, unlocking unimpeded passage for subsequent girder erection, ballastless track laying and deck installation. Piling works, bearing platforms, pier bodies and continuous beams across the lot have all reached full completion; over sixty per cent of precast box girders have been manufactured and half erected, with the full girder erection sequence scheduled to finish before year‑end.

At the Taicang Pilot Section of the Huzhou-Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou Intercity Railway, station superstructure erection, shield tunnelling and railway bridge construction advance concurrently above and below ground. “At present, subgrade construction stands at 59 per cent completion, bridge works at 45 per cent and station building works at 52 per cent. Twin shield tunnels between Taicang Station and Baiyundu Road Station stretch 5 kilometres, accounting for 52 per cent of the tunnel’s total length,” a senior manager from Jiangsu Provincial Railway Group Construction Corporation notes. Site teams prioritise the construction of shield launching shafts between Baiyundu Road Station and Shibagang Road Station alongside full commissioning of tunnelling machinery, aiming to launch shield excavation within the current calendar year.

Spanning the Chu River, welding sparks fly across the Lot 5 site of the Nanjing-Huai’an Intercity Railway, built by China Railway Shanghai Engineering Bureau. The 393‑metre steel‑concrete composite girder crossing the Chu River stands as a signature control project with long spans, sophisticated technical requirements and demanding construction standards. Wang Haifeng, project manager, explains all foundation piles on the lot have been finished, bearing platforms and pier bodies near full completion, while all continuous beams and turnout continuous beams have achieved structural closure. Over sixty per cent of box girders have been erected, with full girder erection targeted for completion by the end of the year.

Further south, at the Qishan Village Extra Large Bridge worksite on Lot 1 of the Yancheng-Yixing High‑Speed Railway, operated by China Railway No.24 Engineering Group, labourers carry out precise steel reinforcement binding. Zhang Lei, project lead, outlines the nearly four‑kilometre bridge requires 1,003 bored piles, 117 bearing platforms and 113 pier bodies. Piling progress reaches almost seventy per cent, with platform and pier construction advancing steadily. Under approved building timelines, the first span of continuous beam closure is set to be realised before year‑end, alongside parallel progress on all upper bridge components.

A senior official from the Construction Management Division of Jiangsu Provincial Railway Group says the group fully leverages multi-party coordination mechanisms involving national railway authorities and provincial transport regulators to sustain orderly progress across 11 key railway schemes under its supervision throughout the year. For the second half of the year, the group directs all resources to deliver annual construction targets and deliver comprehensive support for major rail infrastructure schemes, expanding the footprint of Jiangsu’s integrated rail network.