Starting from midnight on October 11, railways nationwide will implement the fourth-quarter 2026 train operating schedule.

In this adjustment, railway authorities in the Yangtze River Delta region centered on the goal of "improving quality and increasing capacity," focused on new demand in the fourth-quarter passenger and freight transport market, coordinated and optimized the operating structure of high-speed trains, actively improved the quality of passenger and freight train operations, and made every effort to serve public travel and high-quality economic and social development.

After the adjustment, the total number of passenger trains operating in the Yangtze River Delta railway network will reach 1,435.5 pairs, an increase of 2 pairs compared with before the adjustment; the total number of freight trains operating will reach 1,383 pairs, an increase of 5.5 pairs compared with before the adjustment.

The total numbers of passenger trains and freight trains in operation will both set record highs.

Multiple Places in Anhui Achieve High-Speed Rail Access to Beijing for the First Time, Leveraging New Line Corridor Capacity

Focusing on public travel needs and serving high-quality economic and social development, the new schedule relies on the newly added corridor capacity after the opening of the Xiong'an-Shangqiu section of the Beijing-Hong Kong High-Speed Railway and seizes the opportunity of Hefei West Station officially connecting to the main line as a key node on the Anhui section of the Beijing-Hong Kong High-Speed Railway.

It has designed and launched 5 pairs of cross-line high-speed rail train products operating via the new line, including Hefei West to Beijing West, Hefei to Beijing West, Huangshan North to Beijing West, and Shanghai Hongqiao to Xiong'an.

As a result, places such as Jiuhua Mountain in southern Anhui, Lujiang and Shouxian in central Anhui, Tongcheng in southwestern Anhui, and Bozhou in northwestern Anhui will welcome direct high-speed rail service to Beijing for the first time.

Traveling to Beijing from Hefei West Station, Jiuhua Mountain Station, Lujiang West Station, Tongcheng East Station, Shouxian Station, Gucheng East Station, and Bozhou South Station will no longer require detours and transfers, or conventional-speed trains, achieving direct high-speed rail access.

Since then, a dual high-speed rail corridor between the Yangtze River Delta city cluster and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan area has officially taken shape, and the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway and the Xiong'an-Shangqiu section of the Beijing-Hong Kong High-Speed Railway have formed an overall pattern of complementary corridor capacity and peak-hour flow diversion.

It is worth noting that, as the final "station" in the "three-station coordination" of the Hefei hub, Hefei West Station will add a large number of northbound and southbound cross-line train services after the schedule adjustment, with passenger departures reaching multiple direct destinations such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Qilu, and northern Henan for the first time.

This will effectively relieve the existing passenger pressure at Hefei Station and Hefei South Station and achieve a rebalancing and further optimization of Hefei's railway travel passenger flows.

Convenient Morning and Evening Intercity Commuting, Reduced Travel Time Between Shanghai and the Chengdu-Chongqing Region

In the new schedule, the Yangtze River Delta railway authorities further improved the regional train operation structure by adding intercity commuter trains and optimizing train departure times, striving to improve passenger commuting efficiency.

To facilitate morning and evening peak commuting for residents in Shanghai, Jiaxing, Hangzhou, and other places, the new schedule plans to add 7 morning and evening peak commuter trains.

Among them, 5 intercity morning commuter trains will be added, including Shanghai Hongqiao-Hangzhou G7635 (departing Shanghai Hongqiao at 8:25, arriving Jiaxing South at 8:52, arriving Hangzhou at 9:24), Shanghai South-Hangzhou G7637 (departing Shanghai South at 6:01, arriving Haining West at 6:39, arriving Hangzhou at 7:03), Hangzhou-Shanghai South G7638 (departing Hangzhou at 7:44, arriving Jiaxing South at 8:13, arriving Shanghai South at 8:42), Hangzhou-Shanghai Hongqiao G7640 (departing Hangzhou at 8:28, arriving Jiaxing South at 8:58, arriving Jiashan South at 9:08, arriving Shanghai Hongqiao at 9:34), and Hangzhou-Shanghai Hongqiao G7654 (departing Hangzhou at 7:01, arriving Jiaxing South at 7:30, arriving Jiashan South at 7:43, arriving Shanghai Hongqiao at 8:09).

Two intercity evening commuter trains will be added, including Shanghai Hongqiao-Hangzhou G7639 (departing Shanghai Hongqiao at 21:12, arriving Jiaxing South at 21:40, arriving Hangzhou at 22:12) and Shanghai Hongqiao-Hangzhou G7651 (departing Shanghai Hongqiao at 20:44, arriving Shanghai Songjiang at 20:58, arriving Jiaxing South at 21:19, arriving Hangzhou at 21:52).

In this schedule adjustment, authorities seize the newly added corridor capacity brought by the opening and operation of the Yixing High-Speed Railway on September 28 to further optimize the operating routes of high-speed rail train products between Shanghai and the southwest direction, further shortening the space-time distance between Shanghai and Chongqing and Chengdu.

The total travel time of G3390/1 from Shanghai Hongqiao to Chengdu South will be shortened by 34 minutes compared with the current fastest high-speed rail train, and the total travel time of G3392/89 from Chengdu East to Shanghai Hongqiao will be shortened by 77 minutes compared with the current fastest high-speed rail train.

Enhancing the Function of the Yiwu Hub, Reserving Capacity for New Lines in Multiple Places in Northern Anhui

In the new schedule, the hub function of Yiwu Station has been further enhanced.

As the largest county-level railway station in Zhejiang Province, the rebuilt and expanded Yiwu Station has been appropriately enlarged and will achieve simultaneous operation of "conventional-speed yard + Shanghai-Kunming high-speed rail yard + Hangzhou-Wenzhou high-speed rail yard," with daily passenger trains increasing from 226 in the current schedule to 272.

The Shanghai-Kunming High-Speed Railway, Hangzhou-Wenzhou High-Speed Railway, Shanghai-Kunming Railway, and Ningbo-Jinhua Railway converge here, making it a core cross-line node connecting the Yangtze River Delta with central and western China and linking central Zhejiang with the southern Zhejiang coast.

The new schedule will plan and reserve initial corridor capacity for the Huaibei-Bengbu High-Speed Railway and the Huaibei-Fuyang High-Speed Railway, and multiple places in northern Anhui such as Huaibei and Suzhou will further increase high-speed rail train stops and passenger services.