Shanghai–Suzhou–Nantong railway, abbreviated as Husutong railway (, "Hu", "Su" and "Tong" being the abbreviations for Shanghai, Suzhou and Nantong, respectively) is a

higher-speed rail Higher-speed rail (HrSR), also known as high-performance rail, higher-performance rail, semi-high-speed rail or almost-high-speed rail, is the jargon used to describe inter-city passenger rail services that have top speeds of more than convent ...

way in China's

Yangtze River Delta The Yangtze Delta or Yangtze River Delta (YRD, or simply ) is a triangle-shaped megalopolis generally comprising the Wu Chinese-speaking areas of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang. The area lies in the heart of the Jiangnan reg ...

area, connecting

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, the region's main city located south of the

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

, with

Nantong Nantong (; alternate names: Nan-t'ung, Nantung, Tongzhou, or Tungchow; Qihai dialect: ) is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Jiangsu province of China, province, China. Located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth. ...

in Jiangsu province, north of the river. The railway is in length and traverses several county-level cities in Suzhou Municipality of Jiangsu along the south bank of the Yangtze including

Zhangjiagang Zhangjiagang (), formerly Shazhou County (), is a county-level city under the administration of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China and one of the many ports along the Yangtze river. With 1,246,762 inhabitants as of the 2010 census, the city is now ...

, Changshu and

Taicang Taicang is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China. The city located in the south of the Yangtze River estuary opposite Nantong, being bordered by Shanghai proper to the south, while the river also delineat ...

.(Chinese
林小昭, "沪苏通铁路今开通，上海大都市圈迎加快发展新契机" 第一财经
2020-07-01(Chinese

2020-07-01 The railway is also called the Shanghai–Suzhou–Nantong railway or the Husutong railway. The railway is designed to accommodate maximum train speeds of , the operation of electric traction hauled double-stack container trains and has reduced train travel time from Nantong to Shanghai to just over one hour.

History

Initially proposed as the Shanghai–Nantong railway (Abbreviated as Hutong railway), construction works began on the first phase of the project in March 2014, and was expected to take five and a half years. The railway began operation on July 1, 2020. The second phase of the railway, from Taicang to Situan, was approved in September 2021.

Route

The railway includes of new tracks, from Zhaodian railway station () on the Nanjing–Qidong railway northwest of downtown Nantong to Huangdu railway station on the

Beijing–Shanghai railway The Beijing–Shanghai railway or Jinghu railway () is a railway line between Beijing and Shanghai. The line has a total length of and connects the municipalities of Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai, as well as the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, ...

, in the northwestern part of Shanghai City. Anting being within of

Shanghai railway station Shanghai railway station (; Shanghainese: ''Zånhae Hutsuzae'') is one of the four major railway stations in Shanghai, China, the others being Shanghai South, Shanghai Hongqiao, and Shanghai West (Shanghaixi). The station is located on Mol ...

, the total railway distance from Nantong to Shanghai is under . The railway crosses the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

over the new

Hutong Yangtze River Bridge The Husutong Yangtze River Bridge is a combined rail and road bridge which crosses the Yangtze River in Jiangsu, China. It is the easternmost railway crossing of the Yangtze river. Construction began on 1 March 2014. The Shanghai–Suzhou–Nanto ...

between Nantong and Zhangjiagang, a double-deck bridge with a 4-track railway on the lower deck and a six-lane roadway on the upper deck. The bridge is the world's longest span ()

cable-stayed A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern ...

road-rail bridge with the highest () piers of a cable-stayed road-rail bridge. The bridge is the easternmost railway crossing of the Yangtze. Previously, the only railway crossing in the Yangtze Delta region was a freight-only

rail ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ...

on the

Xinyi–Changxing railway The Xinyi–Changxing railway or Xinchang railway (), also known as the Xinchang line (), is a single-track railway line in eastern China between the cities of Xinyi in Jiangsu Province and Changxing County in Zhejiang Province. It runs north-sout ...

, between

Jingjiang Jingjiang () is a county-level city under the administration of Taizhou, Jiangsu province, China. It is located on the northern (left) bank of the Yangtze River, and is the southernmost part of Taizhou City, bordering Nantong to the northeast, Suz ...

and

Jiangyin Jiangyin (, Jiangyin dialect: ) is a county-level city on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, and is administered by Wuxi, Jiangsu province. Jiangyin is one of the most important transport hubs on the Yangtze River, it is also one of the most d ...

, some upstream. The closest railway bridge is the

Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge (), previously called the First Nanjing Yangtze Bridge, is a double-decked road-rail truss bridge across the Yangtze River in Nanjing, Jiangsu, connecting the city's Pukou and Gulou districts. Its upper deck i ...

, over upstream. The new bridge thus greatly improves the railway connections between the Central

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...

(the region north of the Yangtze) and the

Jiangnan Jiangnan or Jiang Nan (; formerly romanized Kiang-nan, literally "South of the River" meaning "South of the Yangtze") is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, incl ...

, in particular Shanghai. On its way between the new bridge and Anting, the railway has brought rail service for the first time to prosperous communities on the southern bank of the Yangtze such as

, Changshu, and

which had no railway connection.

Railway Stations

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shanghai-Nantong Railway Railway lines in China Rail transport in Jiangsu Rail transport in Shanghai Railway lines opened in 2020