HANGZHOU, June 27 (Xinhua) -- China's first high-speed railway controlled by private capital has handled more than 100 million passenger trips as of Saturday, less than four and a half years after it began operations in east China's Zhejiang Province, according to railway authorities.
Stretching 266.9 kilometers with a designed speed of 350 kilometers per hour, the railway links Zhejiang's provincial capital Hangzhou with the cities of Shaoxing and Taizhou. Since its launch on Jan. 8, 2022, the number of daily scheduled cross-line train services has doubled from the initial 17.5 pairs to 35, with more than 43,100 pairs of trains operated to date.
The railway has cut the travel time between Hangzhou and Taizhou from more than two hours to 74 minutes, and ended the history of no railway access in some county-level jurisdictions including Shengzhou, Tiantai and Xinchang. It is among China's first group of high-speed railway projects funded through a public-private partnership (PPP), with the private sector holding a stake.
Improved transport connectivity has further boosted regional economic development, injecting fresh dynamism into specialty industries along the route.
"Currently over half of our employees are non-local," said Xia Jianguo, board chairman of the Taizhou-based Aowang Times Technology (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. "The opening of this railway made it easier for us to attract talents, delivering benefits to enterprises, employees and local governments simultaneously."
Li Jun, director of the Zhejiang Development and Planning Institute, noted that this project has attracted social capital investment in railway construction and operations, boosted market-oriented reforms in the railway sector, and strengthened the long-term mechanism for private enterprises to participate in major projects.
China has made major progress in expanding its transport network in recent years. During the 2021-2025 period, China's operating high-speed railway mileage increased by 32.98 percent from 37,900 km to 50,400 km, making the country home to the world's largest high-speed rail network. ■
