The intercity railway Jiulangshan Station in Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province, with a total investment of over 1.25 billion yuan, has been experiencing a significant decline in passenger flow since its opening. During the 2022 Spring Festival travel period, the daily passenger volume was even in the single digits. Recently, the railway station has been suspended.
According to a report by Jiangnan Metropolis Daily, residents of Zhuzhou City in Hunan Province reflected that the Jiulangshan Station of the intercity railway, with a total investment of over 1.25 billion yuan, was shut down shortly after its operation.
The Zhuzhou Municipal Transportation Bureau responded that the passenger flow before the suspension did not exceed 10 people, and the huge operating costs and expenses made it unfeasible to consider reopening the station.
Public information indicates that Jiulangshan Station is located on Baimalong Road, Shifeng District, Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province. In 2016, the renaming plan for the Zhuzhou section of the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan intercity railway was finalized, and the original Baimalong Station was renamed Jiulangshan Station. It serves as the first station for the railway entering Zhuzhou.
Jiulangshan Station is an elevated station with a total building area of 2,500 square meters, featuring 2 tracks and 2 platforms. Inside the station, there are 4 sets of stairs and escalators for passengers to access the platform level, which is about 4 floors high. The platform is approximately 250 meters long. The planned peak hourly passenger volume is 1,278 people.
With the operation of the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan intercity railway, Jiulangshan Station was put into use simultaneously on December 26, 2016. However, since its opening, the station has been experiencing a continuous decline in passenger flow. Due to the impact of the epidemic, the station temporarily suspended passenger services from August 6 to August 20, 2021.
During the 2022 Spring Festival travel period, the daily average passenger flow was still less than 10 people. It was calculated that the operational costs for each passenger sent/arriving were enormous, and the benefits were extremely low. Therefore, on March 5, 2022, the railway department decided to suspend the passenger service of the station.