Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai

The seven-day Spring Festival holiday saw 876,000 passengers transported in Zhuhai with a year-on-year increase of 12.7 percent. Railway transportation from Jan 27 to Feb 2 became the city’s main mode by shipping 355,000 fares in the period. 

Statistics from the Zhuhai Spring Festival Transportation Office show that railway passenger volume increased by 15.3 percent over the same period last year, with an average of more than 50,000 passengers daily. 

During the holiday, road transportation processed 181,000 travelers with a decrease of 16.2 percent year-on-year; waterways handled 157,000 with an increase of 12.1 percent; and Zhuhai Airport throughput reached 183,000, up 62 percent. 

Next, Zhuhai will open four trans-provincial train routes to Zhengzhou in Henan Province, Wuhan in Hubei Province, Kunming in Yunnan Province, and Nanning in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. 

Zhuhai to open train routes to Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Kunming, and Nanning. [File photo]

Foreseeing that Zhuhai is inaugurating more routes to destinations across the country, Macao is looking to access Zhuhai Railway Station in Gongbei through high-speed rail or intercity MRT and significantly bolster tourism and economy, according to Leng Sai Vai, vice president of the Travel Industry Council of Macao. He was quoted by Macao Daily News as saying that though it’s merely a few minutes from Macao, the Zhuhai high-speed railway station can serve as a critical portal through which Macao networks with the rest of the Chinese mainland.

He also claimed that the link of Macao and Zhuhai through the railway can better diversify the structure of individual travelers from the Chinese mainland. As Macao’s aircraft industry is not competitive with surrounding areas, the railway connection between Macao and Zhuhai becomes a must to bring in domestic tourists, and it can also help Macao Airport to integrate resources for expansion in the international market. 

On the other hand, constructing a railway station in Macao to connect with Zhuhai Station is not a big project, taking passengers only several minutes to go from one place to the other, yet benefitting Macao a great deal for long-range sound development. He hopes that the Macao SAR and Chinese mainland governments will explore the idea and its feasibility.