Track laying completed for China's northernmost high-speed railway

Track laying for the Harbin-Yichun High Speed Railway, China's northernmost high-speed railway under construction, was completed on Tuesday.

Stretching 318 kilometers, the railway line connects Harbin, Yichun and some other cities in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

Its seamless steel tracks allow a designed train speed of 250 kilometers per hour while ensuring quiet trips for passengers.

The progress was made after 17 months of hard work despite challenges posed by a local temperature range of over 50 degrees Celsius and 14 permafrost zones with an average depth of 8.9 meters along the route, which constitute multiple national records in terms of construction difficulty.

Instead of the traditional way of laying track sleepers one by one, the project adopts an advanced method of laying sleepers in groups, increasing efficiency by 50 percent to 2.5 kilometers per day.

In addition, the CPG500, China's first homegrown long rail track-laying machine, has been used to lay the seamless steel tracks to ensure the project proceeds on schedule.

"The Harbin-Yichun high-speed railway is divided into the Harbin-Tieli section and the Tieli-Yichun section. Up to now, we have finished 95 percent of the Tieli-Yichun section and 77 percent of the Harbin-Tieli section. We will not only complete track laying, but also complete the construction of the overhead contact line, the electric power, traction power supply, communications, and signaling systems, and supporting facilities by the end of the year, so as to get prepared for the acceptance testing early next year," said Guo Yingxun, head of Heilongjiang Railway Development Group Tieli Office.

Upon completion, the rail route is expected to reduce the travel time between Harbin and Yichun from the current seven hours to approximately two hours, and will play a crucial role in promoting economic and social development in the region and the full revitalization of northeast China.

To date, China has built the world's largest high-speed railway network, with a total length of around 48,000 kilometers, covering 97 percent of its cities with a population of over 500,000.

The country aims to expand its operating high-speed rail tracks to about 60,000 kilometers by 2030.

Track laying completed for China's northernmost high-speed railway

China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao outlined the key priorities of the 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting, which opened on Friday in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province.

In an interview with CGTN ahead of the two-day meeting, Wang said free trade, digital cooperation and green economy are high on the agenda of the meeting.

"The key areas include advancing regional economic integration and the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, supporting the World Trade Organization (WTO) in strengthening digital cooperation and developing green economy. At present, the international situation is marked by intertwined turbulence and chaos, with intensified geopolitical instability. The rise of unilateralism and protectionism poses serious challenges to the international economic and trade order, disrupting global and Asia-Pacific development. Against this backdrop, all parties have higher expectations for this trade ministers' meeting, hoping that it can build consensus and deliver outcomes," Wang said.

This year marks China's third time hosting the APEC meetings and the 35th anniversary of its membership.

By 2025, China had become the largest trading partner of 13 APEC economies. Trade between China and APEC economies reached 3.7 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for 57.8 percent of China's total foreign trade.

China has signed 24 free trade agreements or economic and trade arrangements with 31 countries and regions, including 15 APEC economies. In recent years, China has also completed upgrades of free trade agreements with APEC economies such as Singapore and Peru.

The minister said that China has always been a firm supporter and an important contributor to APEC.

"We have actively shared our vast market and development opportunities with all parties. China's door to the world will only open wider and wider. Facing the common challenges, China will continue to fulfill its responsibilities as a major country, further deepen reform, expand high-standard opening-up, and continue to provide new opportunities for the Asia-Pacific region and the world with its new achievements in Chinese modernization," the minister said.

China's Commerce Minister outlines priorities for 32nd APEC trade ministers' meeting