Guangzhou opens first mega-diameter shield tunnel, boosting connectivity

China

Guangzhou opens first mega-diameter shield tunnel, boosting connectivity

2025-11-12 17:36 Last Updated At：21:07

Guangzhou’s first mega-diameter shield tunnel, the Haizhuwan Tunnel, opened to traffic Wednesday, marking a major milestone in the city’s infrastructure and enhancing connectivity across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Spanning 4.35 kilometers with six lanes and a designed speed limit of 60 kilometers per hour, the tunnel links downtown area of Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, with Guangzhou South Railway Station, cutting travel time between the two from over 30 minutes to just 15.

Constructed as a twin-tube structure, the tunnel's shield-driven section stretches 2,102 meters, with a maximum excavation diameter of 15.07 meters, making it Guangzhou's first ultra-large-diameter shield tunnel.

The new tunnel is expected to significantly improve traffic efficiency around Guangzhou South Railway Station and further strengthen the city's role as an international transport hub.

It will also inject new momentum into connectivity and coordinated development across the Greater Bay Area.

South China's Guangxi sees 10-pct growth in trade with ASEAN in Jan-Nov period

South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region saw a year-on-year growth of 10 percent in trade with countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from January to November this year, according to Nanning Customs.

In the first 11 months of 2025, Guangxi's imports and exports with ASEAN members reached 384.22 billion yuan (about 54.46 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 52.9 percent of the provincial-level region's total foreign trade during this period, said the authority.

Among them, Vietnam remained Guangxi's largest trading partner in the ASEAN region, with trade growing by 7.1 percent. The growth rates with Indonesia and Singapore were also remarkable, standing at 51.7 percent and 62.7 percent respectively.

During the same period, Guangxi imported and exported a total of 726.54 billion yuan worth of goods, increasing by 9.5 percent year on year, the customs data showed.