Bids for designing Zhuhai Central (Hezhou) Railway Station as both a high-speed rail hub and urban center were advertised Aug 6 by the Zhuhai Public Resource Trading Center.

The successful bidder is to research business formats, development scale, capital, hub layout, traffic organization, and engineering specifications. Once built the station would include Doumen District within the one-hour living circle of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Hezhou Station in east Doumen is planned as a Pearl River Estuary west bank hub. It will handle interregional and intercity trains, according to the Greater Bay Area Intercity MRT Construction Plan, which was approved by the National Development & Reform Commission last year.

Preliminary research begins on the design and impact of the Hezhou Railway Station as transport hub on west bank of the Pearl River Estuary [File photo / WeChat account: zhtqb12345]

Hezhou Station will connect to the Guangzhou-Zhuhai (Macao) and Zhuhai-Zhaoqing high-speed railways, which are to come under construction this year, states the 2021 Zhuhai Government Work Report.

The Guangzhou-Zhuhai (Macao) High-Speed Railway will connect Guangzhou North Railway Station with Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Yuzhu, Nansha, Zhongshan, and Hezhou, and continue to Hengqin Checkpoint.

Meanwhile, the Zhuhai-Zhaoqing High-Speed Railway will run between Hengqin (Macao) to Jiangmen via Doumen's Lianzhou Town and merge into the Guiyang-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway at Zhaoqing East Railway Station.

In addition to the two railways, Doumen is anxious for construction of a proposed Metro Line 3 that will also run through Hezhou North.

The Hezhou area lies between the Zhuhai and Niwanmen bridges, just east of Jinwan District's Hongqi Town and where the Jiangmen-Zhuhai Expressway meets Zhuhai Avenue.

The Zhuhai Housing & Urban-Rural Planning & Construction Bureau announced in 2016 that the Hezhou Central Business District would become an industrial service center and high-end sector for finance and trade, headquarters offices, modern services, business, and recreation.