China's railway sector has taken measures to cope with the impact of freezing weather in the season and guarantee transport safety.
A cold wave has swept across many parts of central China's Henan Province, bringing snow and lowering temperatures, severely challenging the railway transportation.
In the provincial capital Zhengzhou, high-speed trains kept coming to a maintenance depot for de-icing. The extremely high speed and complex bogie structures make the high-speed trains prone to absorb ice and snow they stir up in running, likely to compromise the operation safety.
"We have organized workers to use specially designed rubber shovels to clear snow and de-ice in-between the bogies. Meanwhile, for residual ice that is hard to remove, we carry out deeper cleaning with ice-clearing vehicles and high-pressure water jets," said Jin Yun, an official with Zhengzhou railway bureau of the National Railway Administration.
Wuhuan railway bureau in neighboring Hubei Province of central China also took measures to ensure the safety of railway transportation in snowy weather. They have leveraged advantages of network hub to integrate automated system, rationalize operation schedule to ensure the transport of key supplies, and add anti-slip mats and warning signs at railway stations to protect passengers.
Qingdao section of Jinan railway bureau in east China's Shandong Province has also stepped up patrols and inspections of key railway equipment and carried out de-icing in freezing rainy days.
Railway sector copes with cold front for safe winter travel
China's two major power grid operators -- the State Grid Corporation of China (State Grid) and China Southern Power Grid (CSG) -- reported a surge in investment in the first quarter of 2026, underscoring efforts to strengthen infrastructure construction and support high-quality socioeconomic development in China.
The State Grid said it completed fixed-asset investment worth 129 billion yuan (about 18.77 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three months of this year, up 37 percent the corresponding period of the previous year. The spending has driven more than 250 billion yuan (36 billion U.S. dollars) of investment across the wider industrial chain.
Key projects such as the Panxi ultra-high-voltage (UHV) alternating current (AC) line and the Anhui-Hubei back-to-back direct current (DC) project have seen ground broken for their construction, while several west-to-east power transmission projects have been upgraded.
Investment in connecting renewable energy generation to the grid was reported to have exceeded 10 billion yuan (1.45 billion U.S. dollars) from January to March, a year-on-year rise of more than 50 percent.
The CSG also reported robust growth in investment in the three-month period, with fixed-asset investment reaching 38.45 billion yuan (5.58 billion U.S. dollars), up about 50 percent from a year earlier.
Among its achievements, the company completed and commissioned 80 key projects, including the 220 kV cross-sea power grid interconnection project, which was officially put into operation on March 20. The project ended years of grid isolation on the Weizhou Island in south China by linking it to the main power system of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The construction of 17 other major energy projects, including one linking the power grid of the Xizang Autonomous Region in southwest China with that of Guangdong Province in south China, is advancing rapidly. These projects are expected to bolster regional industries, the maritime economy, digital collaboration and the transition to green energy.
"By accelerating major project construction, investment during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030) is expected to approach 1 trillion yuan (145 billion U.S. dollars), driving a further 2 trillion yuan (290 billion U.S. dollars) of investment across upstream and downstream industries," said Dong Yanle, deputy general manager of the Engineering Construction Department under the China Southern Power Grid.
China ramps up power grid investment in January-March to boost growth
