The Construction Headquarters for Suzhou North Railway Station Complex recently went into operation, which marks the beginning of the substantive phase in the construction of the transport hub.
Located at the intersection of the Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway and the Nantong-Suzhou-Jiaxing-Ningbo High-speed Railway that is to be constructed soon, Suzhou North Railway Station will become a national-level comprehensive transport hub and an important link in the Yangtze River Delta Transport Hub.
The existing Suzhou North Railway Station has a waiting hall of only 2,000 square meters while its peak passenger flow can hit 70,000 persons/times per day.
According to the construction plan, the project is to cover a floorage of nearly 1 million square meters, with half of it serving the function of transportation and the other half to be developed into a city complex. The new station is to be equipped with 12 elevated platforms as waiting areas and 30 railway lines.
After its completion, the transport hub will undertake some functions from Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station and reserve passages for future super trains and Shanghai-Suzhou cycle lines.
The Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou Intercity Railway and the Rudong-Nantong-Suzhou-Huzhou Intercity Railway will each have a station in the hub; an all-in-one city airport terminal will be built to connect Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and SunanShuofang International Airport and realize air-railway combined transport.
Besides, a CRH train maintenance station is expected to be set up nearby in the future, and Suzhou North Railway Station will serve as the station of departure and destination for Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway, Nantong-Suzhou-Jiaxing-Ningbo High-speed Railway, Rudong-Nantong-Suzhou-Huzhou Intercity Railway and Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou Intercity Railway.
Regarding the city's rail transit service, Suzhou Rail Transit Line 2 (in operation), Line 7 (under construction) and other 3 lines (to be constructed) will come together at the hub. In addition, a distribution system including elevated highways will be built to guarantee a smooth transfer between various transport modes like long-distance bus, bus and taxi.
In the meanwhile, the transport hub will integrate such city functions as commercial complex, office and high-end hotels. There are 20 industrial buildings to the south of the station, where hundreds of research institutions, enterprises, various incubators and accelerators gather; to the north of it, the Yangtze River Delta International R&D Industrial Park, as large as 10 square kilometers, is currently under construction.
Let's look forward to a better Suzhou North Railway Station!
