At 11:30 am on September 14th, as the G8491 train accelerated from Meizhou West Station to Guangzhou East Station, the Meizhou West to Longchuan West section of the Longlong High speed Railway officially opened for operation. Thus, the operating mileage of China's railways exceeded 160000 kilometers, including over 46000 kilometers of high-speed railways, an increase of 64.2% and 392.2% respectively from the end of 2012. The scale, quality, and modernization level of China's railway network have significantly improved, with major indicators such as passenger and freight transportation, technological innovation, energy conservation and environmental protection, and safety performance ranking among the top in the world. Behind the development of railways is the resounding footsteps of China's exploration and realization of modernization. In 1909, the completion of the Beijing Zhangjiakou Railway broke the assertion that Chinese people could not build their own railways. Today, 115 years later, 160000 kilometers of railway lines have written a magnificent epic of the Chinese nation's overcoming all difficulties and opening up mountains and roads, witnessing the Chinese railway's efforts to portray the magnificent modern landscape of the new era. The scale of the railway network has significantly increased, and railways are the main arteries of the national economy. In 1919, Sun Yat sen proposed in his "Industrial Plan": "Let China become a modern and powerful country with 100000 miles (about 160000 kilometers) of railways." For over a hundred years, from a stumbling start to leading the world, the development of China's railways has gathered the surging power of national rejuvenation. The first railway built after the founding of the People's Republic of China - the Chengdu Chongqing Railway, the first electrified railway in China - the Baocheng Railway, and the world's highest and longest plateau railway - the Qinghai Tibet Railway... Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, railway development has overcome numerous difficulties and started large-scale new line construction and existing line renovation on the basis of restoring old lines. From 1949 to 2012, the operating mileage of China's railways increased from 21000 kilometers to 98000 kilometers, and the transportation service capacity significantly improved. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the development of railways, especially high-speed railways, has entered the fast lane. Li Jingwei, the head of the Development and Reform Department of China Railway Group, introduced that since 2012, a total of 66000 kilometers of railways have been built and put into operation in China, including 38000 kilometers of high-speed railways. At present, railways cover 99% of cities with a population of over 200000 in China, and high-speed railways cover 96% of cities with a population of over 500000 in China. The significant increase in the scale of the railway network has brought about a substantial improvement in railway passenger transport capacity and service quality. Data shows that the daily average passenger volume of China's railways has increased from 5.17 million in 2012 to over 10 million in 2023. 12306 The new generation ticketing system, through the implementation of Internet ticketing and electronic ticketing, completely ended the history of people queuing to buy tickets for a long time and taking the bus with paper tickets. Nowadays, about 80% of the main channels of China's "Eight Verticals and Eight Horizontals" high-speed railway network have been built, from the eastern coast to the snowy plateau, from the coast of the South China Sea to the snowy countryside in the north. High speed rail not only shortens the distance between time and space, but also drives the coordinated development of intercity regions, promoting the rapid flow and aggregation of various production factors. In 2023, China's railway passenger volume and turnover will reach 3.85 billion and 1.4729 trillion person kilometers respectively, an increase of 103.6% and 50.1% compared to 2012, and both indicators will remain the world's top Li Jingwei said. High speed railway technology has set an international benchmark. In addition to operating mileage, operating speed is also an important indicator to measure the tremendous changes in China's railways. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the average operating speed of China's railways was around 40 kilometers per hour. In 1994, the Guangzhou Shenzhen quasi high speed railway with a length of 147 kilometers and a maximum operating speed of 160 kilometers per hour was put into operation, marking the beginning of China's railway speed increase. In just ten years from 1997 to 2007, China's railways experienced six major speed increases. On August 1, 2008, with the operation of the Beijing Tianjin intercity high-speed railway, the maximum operating speed of China's railways reached 350 kilometers per hour, further improving the convenience of people's travel. On June 26, 2017, two Chinese standard high-speed trains with completely independent intellectual property rights, the "Fuxing", were officially launched in both directions on the Beijing Shanghai high-speed railway. For over 7 years, the Fuxing high-speed train has been running on the vast land of our motherland, becoming the fastest and most diverse commercial high-speed train in the world. The birth of high-speed rail trains is a long and complex process. A high-speed train with a speed of 350 kilometers per hour is composed of over 40000 components, covering many technical fields such as machinery, materials, power electronics, and information control Li Xuefeng, General Manager of China Academy of Railway Sciences Group Corporation, stated that by continuously improving the self-reliance and self-improvement of railway technology, the overall technical level of China's railways has entered the world's advanced level. High speed, plateau, high-altitude, and heavy-duty railway technology has reached the world's leading level, and intelligent high-speed railway technology has fully achieved self-reliance, forming a large number of technological innovation achievements represented by the Fuxing high-speed train. In June of this year, the Fuxing high-speed train project won the special prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, setting an international benchmark for high-speed rail technology. At the same time, the Fuxing family continues to grow, covering different speed levels such as 350 kilometers per hour, 250 kilometers per hour, and 160 kilometers per hour, as well as different configurations such as standard, high-altitude, and intelligent. As of the end of 2023, the Fuxing high-speed train has been put into use with a total of 1194 standard trains, transporting 2.2 billion passengers and covering 30 provinces (regions, cities) and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Chinese standards have become a shining business card. With the rapid development of China's railway industry, the "going global" of high-speed rail is also becoming increasingly popular, becoming a shining business card of Chinese manufacturing. China Laos Railway, the first international railway mainly invested by China, shows the fruitful results of China Laos cooperation; The "first order" of China's high-speed railway system, all elements and the whole industrial chain going global - Yawan high-speed railway has become the "golden signboard" of China Indonesia joint construction of the "the Belt and Road"; China and Central and Eastern European countries jointly built the landmark project of the "the Belt and Road" - the Serbian Beno section of the Hungary Serbia Railway, which has sent more than 8.8 million passengers in total... In recent years, China's railway has won widespread praise in the international community with its advanced technology and high-quality services. In addition, the China Europe freight corridor, the China Europe freight train, which connects 223 cities in 25 European countries and over 100 cities in 11 Asian countries, has grown from 1702 trains to over 17000 trains by 2023 since its unified brand was established in 2016, an increase of nearly 10 times. The annual transportation value has increased from 8 billion US dollars to 56.7 billion US dollars. With the implementation of the 'dual carbon' strategy, the advantages of green, low-carbon, and resource intensive railways will bring new development opportunities to the world's railways The Director of the National Railway Administration, Fei Dongbin, pointed out that the world's railways are ushering in a new trend of sustainable development with high-quality infrastructure connectivity, high standard coordination of technical equipment, and efficient sharing of operation and management. It is necessary for countries around the world to work together to meet the strategic opportunities and risk challenges brought by railway green upgrading and technological changes. The head of the International Department of China Railway Group said that in the future, China Railway will continue to adhere to the concept of innovation driven development, constantly improve its ability to rely on science and technology for self-reliance, and contribute more wisdom and strength to jointly build the "the Belt and Road" and build a community with a shared future for mankind. (New Society)