Published : 2025-01-07
On January 7, 2003, China's first cross-sea railway, the Yuehai Railway (粵海鐵路), was officially opened.
The "Yuehaitie No.1" ferry, carrying the first freight train, slowly left the North Port terminal in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, heading towards Hainan Island, and from then on, Hainan ended its history of having no train connection to the northern mainland.
The Yuehai Railway is China's first cross-sea railway, jointly invested with 4.8 billion CNY by the Ministry of Railways, Hainan Province, and Guangdong Province.
The entire Yuehai Railway starts from Zhanjiang, a major town in western Guangdong. It traverses the Leizhou Peninsula, and crosses the Qiongzhou Strait, and then reaches Sanya.
It was one of the key national railway projects during the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period. The opening of the Yuehai Railway signifies that China has made significant technological breakthroughs in the construction of cross-sea railways, marking a new historical stage in China's railway construction.
In 2009, the Yuehai Railway was selected by the China World Record Association as China's earliest cross-sea railway, becoming yet another national transportation industry record in China.
