On the east ring section of Hainan Island Ring High Speed Railway, Hele Station, located in Hele Town, Wanning City, has been built for 14 years, but has not yet been put into operation. This station is only three or four kilometers away from the center of Hele Town, and local residents have been expecting it to be put into operation.
A cadre from Dashan Village, Hele Town, where Hele Station is located, told the reporter of First Finance and Economics that he "dreamed" that the station could be opened as soon as possible to drive the local economic development. However, the reality is far more complicated than the dream.
A major official of Hele Town told reporters that the town was also eager to open the Hele Station as soon as possible, but this process required specific planning and implementation at the municipal and provincial levels.
In addition to the local government, whether a high-speed railway station is put into operation depends mainly on the attitude of the railway company.
It is worth noting that, according to public data, at least 20 high-speed railway stations across the country, like Hele Station, never started operation after completion, or stopped service after a short period of operation.
The problems commonly faced by these stations include insufficient passenger flow, small economic benefits, and possible losses caused by operation. As for the bearing of losses, whether it is the local government subsidies or the railway companies themselves, this involves complex interest coordination.
Hele Station has been built for 14 years and has not been put into operation yet
Idle station
Starting from Wanning Station of high-speed railway in Wanning urban area, you can take a taxi for about 30 minutes to Hele Station. There are many weeds around here, some of which are even taller than people. The whole scene looks very quiet and desolate.
On the square of Hele Station, the reporter noticed that there were some sand and other sundries beside the gate of the station. Weeds grew in the cracks of the floor tiles on the square. The sign of "Hele Station" that was originally hung has disappeared. In front of the gate, there is a silver pickup truck with the logo of "railway vehicle" printed on its body. Through the window, we can see that there is an X-ray inspection equipment covered with plastic cloth in the station, which seems to be ready. In the station, several men are chatting leisurely over tea.
A staff member revealed to the reporter that although the Hele Station has not yet been put into operation, someone is still responsible for the daily care. "I just finished my tour," he explained. He believes that the reasons for the delay in the opening of Hele Station are complex, among which insufficient passenger flow is one of the main factors.
In terms of population, the Regulatory Detailed Plan of Hele Town, Wanning City issued in 2021 shows that "the population size of Hele Town in the near future is about 15000 people, and the current population is 11000 people. The long-term population size is expected to reach 35000 people."
In terms of economy, in 2020, the total regional output value of Hele Town will be 1.5 billion yuan, of which the total agricultural output value will account for more than half.
The passenger flow volume around Hele Station has not reached the opening standard of the railway department
Hele Town is located in the east coast of Wanning City, near the mountains and the sea, and is a famous land of plenty. There are not only Liulian Mountains where the "red flag will not fall for 23 years", but also the internal and external coastline of 49 kilometers. The Xiaohai Lake in the north of the harbor is the largest lagoon inland sea in China. In addition, the 24 square kilometer Yinghao Peninsula and Dahuajiao Reserve are rich in tourism, agriculture, marine fishery and other resources. Hele Town is also China's Dragon Boat Town and the hometown of "Hele Crab", one of the four famous dishes in Hainan.
However, when the reporter visited Hele Station, he saw that the whole town was sparsely populated from day to night. In some teahouses that can accommodate twenty or thirty people, only three or four guests are leisurely eating betel nuts. At noon on June 3, there were only a few vehicles running on the famous Gangbei Bridge with an investment of more than 400 million yuan.
As for this situation, local people say that for many years, Hele Town has neither real estate industry nor large-scale factories, and tourist attractions have not been fully developed. Therefore, except for local people, few outsiders come to visit or do business.
In the opinion of the cadres of Dashan Village Committee mentioned above, whether the Hele Station is put into use or not will largely affect the future economic development of Hele Town. He also said that once Hele Station was started, people from nearby towns and villages such as Longgun, Shangen, Hou'an, and Lelai would come to Hele Town to take a bus instead of going further to Wanning Station, and the flow of people would increase.
"Now wait for (the town) to change slowly." He believes that if Hele Station can attract some major investment projects, the prospect of its opening and operation will be more clear. He refers to "changes", such as the Hainan Angel Medical Examination Vehicle Project under construction behind Dashan Village. The total investment of this project is up to 1.5 billion yuan, equal to the regional GDP of Hele Town in 2020.
For another example, in 2023, there will be 12 Hele investment promotion projects, with a total investment of about 470 million yuan and an estimated annual output value of 650 million yuan; In 2023, the collective economic income of all villages in Hele Town will increase from 3.11 million yuan in 2022 to 25.57 million yuan.
From the village entrance of Dashan Village to Hele Station, we passed a curved two lane road with lush trees on both sides, crossing each other, and fallen leaves covered the road. "A few days ago, we also organized people in the village to clean up," said the village cadre. This is also the expectation of local villagers for the opening of Hele Station.
How to reach the standard
As the first round the island high-speed railway in the world, Hainan round the island high-speed railway was constructed by stages and sections. The construction of the east ring section was started on September 29, 2007 and completed on December 30, 2010. The Hainan East Ring High Speed Railway, which was opened to traffic at the end of 2010, should have three stations in Wanning, the "world surfing resort" as planned: Hele Station, Wanning Station, and Shenzhou Station, but Hele Station has been delayed in putting into use.
This worried the local officials, and for this reason, they put forward several suggestions on public occasions to start the Hele Station as soon as possible. In 2012, Zhuo Linmei, then a member of the Standing Committee of Wanning Municipal Party Committee, proposed to "open Wanning Hele Station and Shenzhou Station as soon as possible" during the two sessions of Hainan Province. Six years later, in 2018, the delegation of Wanning Municipal People's Congress again proposed to "open the Hele Station of the East Ring High Speed Railway".
However, two proposals with a time span of 6 years have received the same reply: "At present, the surrounding passenger flow has not reached the opening standards of the railway department, and the surrounding municipal supporting facilities have not been improved."
The official website of the People's Government of Hainan Province shows that the original Hainan Provincial Cross sea Office (Railway Office) replied to Zhuo Linmei's Proposal on Opening Wanning Hele Station and Shenzhou Station of the East Ring High Speed Railway as soon as possible on May 2, 2012, saying that the railway department believes that the main reason for the current restrictions on the opening of Hele Station and Shenzhou Station is that the passenger flow around has not yet reached the opening standards of the railway department, The surrounding municipal supporting facilities are not perfect.
The reply also pointed out that in order to meet the conditions for opening Hele Station and Shenzhou Station, the following work should be done well: First, further improve the municipal supporting facilities around Hele Station and Shenzhou Station. At this stage, Hele Station and Shenzhou Station have not completed the urban public transport, road landmarks, tap water and other municipal facilities supporting the stations, and the local government needs to make preparations for the opening of Hele Station and Shenzhou Station of the East Ring High Speed Railway to create conditions for the opening of Hele Station and Shenzhou Station. Second, actively coordinate with the Ministry of Railways to support the early opening of Hele Station and Shenzhou Station.
There are many weeds around Hele Station, some of which are even taller than people
On January 28, 2024, Shenzhou Railway Station, which is also located in Wanning City with Hele Railway Station, finally officially opened its passenger transport business. During the interview with Hele, some local residents told reporters that the news of the opening of the Shenzhou Railway Station gave them hope that the Hele Railway Station would soon be launched.
Less than two months after the Shenzhou Station was put into operation, on March 19, 2024, when a netizen asked on the "Leaders' Message Board" of People's Daily Online why the Hele Station was not put into operation, Hainan Provincial Development and Reform Commission The reply given by Hainan Communications Investment Holding Co., Ltd. is: "Our committee has organized Wanning Municipal Government, Hainan Railway Co., Ltd. and design units to carry out research on Hele Station many times last year. Next, our committee will urge Wanning Municipal Government, Hainan Railway Co., Ltd. and other relevant units to speed up the work before the opening of Hele Station and promote the early opening and operation of the station."
However, the Work Report of Wanning Municipal Government in 2024 puts forward that this year, "strive to open and operate the high-speed railway around the island and Hele Station". This means that the local government will also face an urgent task: to improve the municipal supporting facilities around the site.
Compared with Wanning Station and other stations that have been successfully operated, Hele Station still has some shortcomings in infrastructure.
When visiting Hele Station, the reporter found that although the station itself has been built, the square in front of its exit is not equipped with necessary parking facilities at present. In addition, key municipal services such as the connection between the station and the urban public transport system, road guidance signs, etc. have not yet been fully in place. The improvement of these facilities is the basic premise for railway companies to open new high-speed railway stations.
Money
At present, there are more than 20 high-speed railway stations that have not been put into operation since the completion of the project, or have been put into operation for a time and then stopped operation again, all over the country, including Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan, Liaoning, Beijing, Shandong, Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places.
So many high-speed railway stations are idle, which is undoubtedly a waste of resources. According to the public information, the reporter could not find out how much money was invested in the early construction of Hele Station, but the total investment of Haitou Station in Danzhou City, which is similar to the station, exceeded 40 million yuan, including the exit road and the station square.
It is reported that there are more than 20 high-speed railway stations in China that have not been put into operation after completion
Haitou Station is located in the west section of Hainan Island Ring High Speed Railway. The construction of the West Ring Section of Hainan Island Ring High Speed Railway started on September 28, 2012 and was completed and put into operation on December 30, 2015, that is, the whole line of Hainan Island Ring High Speed Railway was completed and opened to traffic.
However, the station has not been put into operation on time because "the passenger flow around has not yet reached the opening standard of the railway department, and the surrounding municipal supporting facilities have not been improved".
Later, after years of efforts by the local government, Haitou Station was finally officially put into operation in December 2023. A staff member of the local government who participated in the launch of the operation of Haitou Station told the reporter that the local government and the railway company had many discussions on the operation. "The key problem is money," he said.
The revenue and expenditure issue after the operation of high-speed railway station is the core. On July 14, 2023, the Development and Reform Commission of Hainan Province revealed in its reply to the station's related questions that, after communicating with the railway department, the daily passenger flow of Haitou Station was less than 100 people, and the railway department suffered serious losses after the opening and operation of Haitou Station, which was the main reason restricting the opening of Haitou Station.
In 2021, Danzhou Transportation Bureau replied to the relevant suggestions of the deputies to the Municipal People's Congress that the opening of the Haitou High speed Railway Station was decided by Yuehai Railway Co., Ltd. The company said that, in consideration of the passenger source, operating costs and other factors of the Haitou High speed Railway Station, there were operating losses and it has not been opened. If it is necessary to open the station, Danzhou City needs to support operating loss subsidies of about 5 million yuan.
Similarly, in 2019, Hainan Railway Co., Ltd. also mentioned the issue of "project investment and operation subsidies" when replying to the Wenchang delegation's "Suggestions on Adding Wenchang (South) Station in the East Ring Section of Hainan Island Ring High Speed Railway". Specifically, "the Wenchang South Station (or the reconstruction and expansion of the existing Wenchang Station) shall be fully funded by the Wenchang Municipal People's Government, or the Wenchang Municipal People's Government shall cooperate with our company to construct the station through land transfer compensation... If the addition of Wenchang South Station (or the reconstruction and expansion of the existing Wenchang Station) causes our company's operating losses, the Wenchang Municipal People's Government shall give financial subsidies to the loss expenses."
In the future, if there is a loss in the operation process of Hele Station after its launch, which party should compensate for the loss, how much should be subsidized, and how should it be subsidized? The reporter contacted the Wanning Municipal Government and relevant departments of Hainan Railway Co., Ltd., but no reply has been received as of the time of publication.
However, it can be seen that the subsidy of millions is not a small amount for Wanning, the "hometown of Chinese betel nut". The Analysis of Wanning's Economic Operation in 2023 released by Wanning Statistics Bureau shows that in 2023, Wanning's local general public budget revenue will be 1.938 billion yuan, but the expenditure will be as high as 6.236 billion yuan.
