A Moving China of 160,000 Kilometers: CCTV

       On September 14, the Meizhou-Longchuanxi section of the Longyan-Longchuan High Speed Railway opened for operation. This milestone means that China's railway operational mileage has surpassed 160,000 kilometers. The construction of 160,000 kilometers of railway was envisioned by Sun Yat-sen, the great pioneer of the democratic revolution over a century ago. In the autumn of 2020, President Xi Jinping visited Guangdong and toured the Shantou Opening Port Culture Exhibition Hall, pausing in front of a planning map related to Sun Yat-sen's "National Construction Strategy" and reflecting, "Only we, the Communist Party of China, have realized this." The construction of 160,000 kilometers of railway, a vision proposed more than a century ago, is now becoming a reality in the new era.

　　The opening of the Meizhou-Longchuanxi section on September 14, 2024, injects new momentum for the eastern Guangdong old revolutionary base region to accelerate its integration into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Although the newly opened Meizhou-Longchuanxi section is only 98 kilometers long, it holds extraordinary significance, marking the surpassing of 160,000 kilometers of operational railway mileage in China.

　　The history of the development of China's railways encapsulates the story of contemporary China's resilience and innovative growth. Today, China's annual passenger volume and turnover rank first in the world, and its freight volume is also the highest, exceeding the combined totals of the second and third-ranking countries, the United States and Russia. The operational mileage of China's high-speed rail exceeds 46,000 kilometers, also the highest in the world, surpassing the total operational mileage of high-speed rail in all other countries combined. Especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party, fixed asset investment in railways has reached 9.65 trillion yuan, with a total of 66,000 kilometers of railways constructed and put into operation, including 38,000 kilometers of high-speed rail.

　　Today, China's railway continues to extend station by station, journey by journey. In 2019, the "Outline for Building a Strong Transportation Nation" proposed that by 2035, a strong transportation nation would be basically established; and by the middle of this century, a transportation powerhouse that meets the satisfaction of the people, ensures strong support, and ranks among the world's top countries will be fully built.