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Frank Chen

Planning for a second express rail link in southern China’s most vibrant urban cluster is being revved up to streamline travel between the tech hub of Shenzhen and the commercial powerhouse of Guangzhou, while also benefiting Hong Kong.
Construction is now in full swing after Shenzhen broke ground on the southern end of the future high-speed rail artery in June. The project begins with a new station at Terminal 1 of the city’s airport, with space reserved for a future cross-border extension into Hong Kong.
This marks the start of the first supporting project of the new line, where bullet trains will cruise at speeds of up to 350km/h (217mph), Shenzhen media reported. The artery will tightly weave together the city centres of Guangzhou, Dongguan and Shenzhen, dramatically compressing the distance between these urban hubs and their major aviation gateways.
While China has reined in approvals and budgeting for other expensive rail links, as years of rapid infrastructure buildout wind down, the second Guangzhou-Shenzhen high-speed railway is a rare exception. State and provincial authorities have already given the project the green light.
In January, the project was included in Guangdong’s provincial five-year plan that aims to further integrate Shenzhen and Guangzhou into a megalopolis. The gross domestic product of each city in 2025 ranked among the top 10 cities in Asia.
Six years ago, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner, incorporated the project into an infrastructure interconnectivity plan for the Greater Bay Area development zone.
The new line’s inclusion in the bay area planning by the NDRC, which has the power to propose, scrutinise and approve key infrastructure plans, was said to be driven by growing congestion on existing routes over the years.


The existing express railway between Guangzhou and Shenzhen, built in 2011 with an extension to Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Terminus commissioned in 2018, is reaching its capacity.
That line had an average daily frequency of 415 trains in the first quarter, with an average of one train passing by every two minutes during peak hours, almost rivalling the busiest trunk of Japan’s Tokyo-Osaka Tokaido Shinkansen line, the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily reported in May, citing China Railway data.
Daily train departures will hit 430, nearing its designed capacity, in the summer bumper period.
Two other existing railways, the 115-year-old Kowloon-Canton Railway and an intercity route, have speed constraints of 160-200km/h, with more intermittent stops.
“The second express link shall not be a parallel, duplicate line of existing ones. It must add more capacity, strategic stations and improve service quality,” Chen Xiaohong, a professor with Tongji University’s College of Transportation, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
Chen reportedly said the new line would connect two airports in Guangzhou and Shenzhen and potentially provide Hong Kong with an extra link to mainland China.
“The Greater Bay Area is booming, and its urban agglomeration is comparable to the Tokyo metropolitan area, California’s Bay Area and the New York-New Jersey urban belt,” she was quoted as saying. “Having one more express railway is feasible and justified for forming more one-hour round-trip cross-city networks.”
According to the latest plan, the future line will start from Huangpu Station in the Guangzhou Railway Hub, crossing the Pearl River into a downtown station in Dongguan and continuing to Shenzhen Airport East Station.
In Hong Kong, think tanks have called for planning a local section for the line’s extension into the territory and onwards to Hong Kong International Airport.


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New 350km/h route aims to reduce congestion while bridging city centres and aviation hubs, with an intended cross-border extension


New 350km/h route aims to reduce congestion while bridging city centres and aviation hubs, with an intended cross-border extension.


How will China’s new high-speed rail line connect Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}New 350km/h route aims to reduce congestion while bridging city centres and aviation hubs, with an intended cross-border extension

New 350km/h route aims to reduce congestion while bridging city centres and aviation hubs, with an intended cross-border extension