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wenzhou, the first high-speed railway with a speed of 350 kilometers per hour is here.

on september 6, the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed ​​railway connecting hangzhou and wenzhou was officially opened. the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed ​​railway starts from tonglu east station in hangzhou, passes through jinhua, taizhou, and wenzhou, and enters wenzhou north station. it is extended to wenzhou south station through the existing hangzhou-shenzhen railway. the main line is 276 kilometers long with a designed speed of 350 kilometers per hour.

as the third largest city in zhejiang, wenzhou's 350km/h high-speed railway "broke through zero" 14 years later than hangzhou and 11 years later than ningbo. in 2010, the shanghai-hangzhou high-speed ​​railway (shanghai to hangzhou) with a designed speed of 350km/h was opened; in 2013, the hangzhou-ningbo high-speed ​​railway (hangzhou to ningbo) with a designed speed of 350km/h was opened.

even among the prefecture-level cities in zhejiang province with a gdp of more than 500 billion yuan, wenzhou is still "half a beat behind". although the gdp of cities such as shaoxing, jiaxing, taizhou, jinhua, huzhou and quzhou is not as high as that of wenzhou, they have already run high-speed railways with a speed of 350 kilometers per hour and are further integrated into hangzhou, shanghai and other places.

as a quasi-trillion-yuan gdp city, wenzhou's gdp in 2023 will be 873 billion yuan. previously, only the hangzhou-shenzhen railway and the jinhua-wenzhou railway passed through it. among them, the wenzhou section of the hangzhou-shenzhen railway has a designed speed of 250 kilometers per hour, but an operating speed of only 200 kilometers per hour. the jinhua-wenzhou railway has a designed speed of 200 kilometers per hour.

what does the first high-speed railway with a designed speed of 350 kilometers per hour mean to wenzhou? which other cities along the line can get a share of the pie? looking at the whole zhejiang province, what changes will it bring to the situation?

wenzhou "breaks zero"

as early as 13 years ago (2011), wenzhou had begun planning the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed railway.

in 2012, the hangzhou-wenzhou railway was included in the zhejiang province railway network plan 2011-2030. in the following years, wenzhou representatives and committee members have continuously called for the construction of the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed railway at the national and local two sessions.

according to a report by hangzhou.com in 2017, dong qinghua, then director of the wenzhou municipal transportation bureau, believed that "to change wenzhou's location and enhance its overall competitiveness, the most urgent task is to change wenzhou's transportation conditions." fang yong, then director of the wenzhou municipal development and reform commission, believed that "to build a one-hour transportation circle for the entire province (zhejiang), the focus is on wenzhou, the difficulty is in wenzhou, and the key lies in the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed railway."

with the strong promotion of wenzhou, the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed ​​railway officially started construction on march 9, 2017.

seven and a half years later, the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed railway was opened to traffic, and wenzhou's long-cherished "high-speed railway dream" finally came true. the line connects with the hehang high-speed railway at tonglu east station, with the shanghai-kunming high-speed railway at yiwu station, and with the hangzhou-shenzhen railway at wenzhou north station, becoming an important part of the intercity railway network in the yangtze river delta.

previously, high-speed trains have been launched from hangzhou to wenzhou, but the route requires detour through the hangzhou-shaoxing-taizhou high-speed ​​railway + hangzhou-shenzhen railway in the east, or through the shanghai-kunming high-speed ​​railway + jinhua-wenzhou railway in the west to reach wenzhou. the fastest journey currently takes about 2 hours.

after the opening of the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed railway, you can depart from wenzhou south station and wenzhou north station and go directly to hangzhou west station via the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed railway, shortening the travel time from wenzhou to hangzhou to about 1 hour.

as a result, wenzhou is also connected to the national high-speed rail network with a speed of 350 kilometers per hour. after transiting in hangzhou via the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed rail, travel time from wenzhou to shanghai, nanjing, suzhou, hefei in the yangtze river delta, and wuhan, changsha, zhengzhou and other places in the central region will be shortened.

it is also worth mentioning that the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed ​​railway is the second high-speed railway line in my country controlled by private capital, and it is also the first "double demonstration" (mixed ownership reform pilot of the state council and social capital investment demonstration of the national development and reform commission) high-speed railway in the country.

as we all know, railway projects require large investments, long cycles and slow returns. according to estimates, the cost of high-speed rail is about 150 million yuan per kilometer. a 100-kilometer high-speed rail line will cost more than 15 billion yuan, which is a huge expense for local governments.

in recent years, the country has been promoting more private capital to participate in the construction of major projects in areas such as railways. with the participation of private enterprises, projects that were originally postponed due to insufficient fiscal budgets can be started as soon as possible, the government's initial construction investment is reduced, and projects can be started more quickly.taking the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed ​​railway as an example, private capital accounted for 51% of the first phase, the national railway group and local governments accounted for 49%, and the second phase was wholly funded by zhejiang province.

the question is how can private enterprises make money? it is understood that the first phase of the hangzhou-wenzhou railway adopts the "build-own-operate-transfer" (boot) model, with a cooperation period of 34 years, including a 4-year construction period and a 30-year operation period. during the operation period, the government will transfer all profits and share risks with social capital parties. for example, if the actual number of runs does not meet expectations, the government will provide certain feasibility gap subsidies. after the operation period expires, the project will be handed over to the government.

experts believe that this not only gives private enterprises a longer operating cycle to recover their investments, but also guarantees a relatively fixed rate of return through the government's compensation agreement, reducing investment risks. taking the hangzhou-taiwan high-speed ​​railway, my country's first privately-controlled high-speed railway line, as an example, the passenger flow in 2023 reached 15 million, a year-on-year increase of 200%. the steady increase in passenger flow has brought about a steady increase in revenue.

shortcut to the north

as we all know, in the first thirty years of reform and opening up, the "iron triangle" of hangzhou, ningbo and wenzhou supported zhejiang, a hotbed of market economy.

zeng gang, professor and director of the institute of urban development at east china normal university, told us that after the reform and opening up, wenzhou developed rapidly relying on the private economy and was summarized as the "wenzhou model", but later the "wenzhou model" was no longer so eye-catching, and the gap between wenzhou and hangzhou and ningbo widened.

today, the combined gdp of hangzhou and ningbo is close to half of the province's total. although wenzhou ranks third in terms of economic size, its share of zhejiang's economy has decreased from 13.3% in 2010 to 10.6% in 2023. while the pacesetters are moving forward, shaoxing and jiaxing behind them are also catching up.

why did wenzhou fall behind? location is considered to be one of the key factors. in the eyes of the outside world, although the "hangzhou-shaoxing-ningbo integration" was included in the "outline of the yangtze river delta regional integration development plan" in 2019, compared with shaoxing and jiaxing, which are "good for taking shelter under a big tree", it is not easy for wenzhou to truly integrate into the overall regional development due to factors such as distance and terrain.

from a geographical point of view, hangzhou and ningbo are located in the northern part of zhejiang, with a straight-line distance of more than 130 kilometers.wenzhou is located in the southeastern part of zhejiang province. the central urban area is about 260 kilometers away from hangzhou. compared with the one-hour intra-city transportation between hangzhou and ningbo, the travel time between hangzhou and wenzhou has always been around two hours.in the entire yangtze river delta, as the city farthest from shanghai, the fastest travel time from wenzhou to shanghai is nearly three hours.

as zeng gang said, development used to be more about cost control, but now it is more about technological innovation, and wenzhou does not have an advantage in this regard. for example, in scientific research, wenzhou lacks colleges and universities and research institutions, which does not provide enough support for economic development; and when wenzhou wants to introduce technology to the local area, the convenience of transportation will become an influencing factor.

after the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed railway improves wenzhou's connectivity, "can wenzhou, through the government or chamber of commerce, allow external universities and research institutions to set up bases in wenzhou to drive the development of technology and the market?" zeng gang raised this question.

in march this year, a wenzhou party and government delegation went to shanghai, suzhou and wuxi for study. when asked about the biggest gain from the trip, wenzhou municipal party committee secretary zhang zhenfeng mentioned, "only strategic integration can win the initiative, and we must seize the opportunity to 'connect with greater shanghai and integrate into the yangtze river delta'."

the opening of the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed railway has shortened the time and space distance between wenzhou and other cities in the yangtze river delta. zeng gang believes that the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed railway can play a role in the yangtze river delta's further extension to the south and forming a better interactive relationship with wenzhou and other places.

currently, wenzhou is striving to become a "double-million" city, that is, a trillion-level gdp and a 10 million-level permanent population. the improvement of transportation conditions cannot completely determine the economy and population, but if the transportation advantages can be fully utilized, the development speed may be improved.

zhejiang "drawing circle"

for zhejiang, one of the greatest significances of the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed railway is that it completes the one-hour transportation circle within the province.

as early as the beginning of the 14th five-year plan, zhejiang proposed that by 2025, a provincial "one-hour transportation circle" will be basically built, that is, travel between hangzhou and all prefecture-level cities in the province, such as hangzhou to ningbo, wenzhou and other places, can be reached in about 1 hour.

looking at the previous railway network map of zhejiang province, with hangzhou as the center, compared with the east-west direction, the shanghehang high-speed railway connects the hefei metropolitan area, the shanghai-hangzhou high-speed railway, the shanghai-suzhou-lake railway, etc. connect shanghai, and the hangzhou-ningbo high-speed railway and the hangzhou-shaoxing-taizhou railway connect cities such as shaoxing, ningbo and taizhou. the railway network in the north-south direction appears a bit "sparse".

at present, the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed railway has been opened to traffic, closely connecting the three major metropolitan areas of hangzhou, jinyi and wenzhou. the 10 prefecture-level cities in zhejiang have realized land transportation from the provincial capital hangzhou to the prefecture-level cities in about one hour.

yiwu, known as the "world small commodity capital", is only a county-level city, but it will become a high-speed rail hub after the opening of the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed railway. the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed railway and the shanghai-kunming high-speed railway intersect here, and the design speed of both high-speed railways is 350 kilometers per hour.

at the same time, yiwu station is undergoing expansion and renovation. after the renovation is completed, the station scale will reach 11 platforms and 27 tracks, and the station building area will reach 75,000 square meters, making it the largest railway station on the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed railway line.

after the renovation of yiwu station is completed, the jinhua rail transit jinyi east line, which has already been opened to traffic, will also be connected to yiwu station. at that time, after getting off the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed railway, passengers can transfer to the urban rail operating in the subway mode here to go to yiwu international trade city and other places.

in addition, the hangzhou-shaoxing-jinhua railway is being planned, and this railway also passes through yiwu. in june, the zhuji municipal transportation bureau issued the "public tender announcement for the study of the planning scheme of the hangzhou-shaoxing-jinhua railway (xiaoshan airport to zhuji (yiwu) intercity railway)", and the preliminary research work of the project will be officially launched. according to the plan, the hangzhou-shaoxing-jinhua railway line is about 130 kilometers long, the new line is about 103 kilometers long, and the investment is estimated to be 25 billion yuan.

for hengdian, the "hollywood of china", the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed ​​railway will officially lead it into the high-speed railway era.

yiwu is a county, while hengdian is just a town. what makes hengdian famous is hengdian film and television city. in 2023, hengdian film and television city received 19.8 million tourists and 489 crews, both of which set historical records. with a 5a-level scenic spot, the opening of the high-speed rail will drive the further development of the local tourism industry.

“when one road is open, a region prospers; when one move is made, the whole board becomes active.” for zhejiang, the hangzhou-wenzhou high-speed railway is not only an artery from the southeastern region of zhejiang to the heart of the yangtze river delta, but also realizes rapid vertical connection with the economic development areas of the maritime silk road.

as its transportation shortcomings are gradually made up, wenzhou, as an important node hub connecting the yangtze river delta and the guangdong-fujian urban agglomerations, is expected to have the possibility of truly gaining the best of both worlds.

reporter|tang jun

edit|he xiaotao du hengfeng

proofreading|zhao qing

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