During the 2026 Spring Festival travel rush, the Guangzhou-Zhanjiang High Speed Railway and the Shantou-Shanwei High Speed Railway made their debut, with the two "golden corridors" working in tandem to accelerate the integration of eastern and western Guangdong into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

　　On December 22, 2025, the two high-speed railways were successively put into operation, forming parallel corridors that connect the Greater Bay Area with eastern and western Guangdong. Among them, the Guangzhou-Zhanjiang High Speed Railway operates up to 66 pairs of EMU trains daily, reducing travel time to as fast as 1 to 2 hours and fundamentally reshaping the spatial and temporal dynamics of western Guangdong. The Shantou-Shanwei High Speed Railway has established a fast track for eastern Guangdong to join the Greater Bay Area network, strengthening connections between the Chaoshan region and core cities in the Greater Bay Area.

　　On January 30, the Guangzhou-Zhanjiang High Speed Railway was connected to Guangzhou Railway Station via a linkage line, enabling through operations with the Guangzhou-Shanwei High Speed Railway and Shantou-Shanwei High Speed Railway. This key milestone has, for the first time, realized a direct high-speed railway connection between Shantou and Zhanjiang, forming a 5-hour economic and living circle. The transportation pattern of "two-way linkage and synchronized integration into the Greater Bay Area" has thus moved from blueprint to reality. Since the start of the Spring Festival travel rush, the two new lines have transported over 2.79 million passengers, demonstrating strong momentum in the flow of people, goods and information.