Guangdong Shenzhen Pinghu South Comprehensive Logistics Hub adopts three-dimensional development, organically integrating railway, highway, and maritime functions —
Intelligent Assembly, Building a Logistics Park on a Railway Yard
“‘Building a logistics park on a railway cover’ was our bold vision, and it has now become a reality.” Gu Feng, Project Leader of the Shenzhen Engineering Construction Headquarters of China Railway Guangzhou Group Co., Ltd., said excitedly. Shenzhen’s Pinghu South was once a railway yard that had lain dormant for many years. Now, a “steel forest” rises from the ground, and the lines on the design drawings are gradually turning into interwoven steel skeletons in reality…
On December 30, 2025, the ground-level railway project of the Shenzhen Pinghu South Comprehensive Logistics Hub was completed and met the conditions for operation. This marks the official implementation of the hub’s core railway transport function, successfully connecting it to the national railway network.
“Building a logistics park on a railway cover” means that the ground floor is designated for railway use, while the space above the railway cover is used for logistics and warehousing. While retaining the existing railway yard, space is expanded upward, and smart logistics warehouses are built on the cover plate transition layer, achieving three-dimensional development of railway land. “This approach effectively integrates railway resources and local industrial resources, significantly enhancing land output value. It not only saves over 300 mu of land but also revitalizes traditional railway freight stations with digital vitality through new technologies such as intelligent sorting systems and unmanned warehousing,” Gu Feng explained.
Viewed from above, the steel structure skeletons of 11 logistics warehouses stretch horizontally and vertically, like the spine of a giant dragon poised for takeoff. This “steel city” has an astonishing scale. It is understood that the total amount of steel structure for the project exceeds 140,000 tons, equivalent to the steel used for more than two “Bird’s Nests.” The total investment is approximately 9.039 billion yuan, with a total construction area of 1.11 million square meters.
In the storage yard of the Pinghu South Comprehensive Logistics Hub project, steel structural components, each over 11 meters long and weighing nearly 3 tons, come into view. A large amount of concrete will also be poured inside the steel columns for load-bearing. “In the future, these steel structural components will be hoisted and connected to form the logistics warehouses,” a site construction worker explained.
To ensure the precise connection of over 140,000 tons of steel structural components, the project’s engineering team put considerable effort into planning. With so many components, errors during on-site assembly are inevitable. If these errors were addressed on-site, it would be time-consuming and significantly increase construction difficulty. How to solve this problem? “We attempted to use Building Information Modeling (BIM) for virtual pre-assembly and real-time monitoring adjustments to improve the efficiency and accuracy of connecting steel structural components,” a team engineer said.
“We use digital acquisition equipment for scanning, first digitizing the on-site steel columns, and then transmitting the data into the system.” During the operator’s demonstration, a virtual steel structure warehouse model could be seen in the center of the screen, with data indicators such as beam-column connection parameters and stress monitoring listed on the left. By clicking a button, the arch ribs began virtual assembly, immediately revealing many complex spatial relationships. In the three-dimensional model constructed by BIM technology, the status of all components was clear at a glance.
When deviations are found in the virtual assembly results, operators can immediately adjust the dimensions of the steel structural components, re-simulate the assembly results, and after confirming no errors, send the data to the steel structure processing plant for fine-tuning. “Each processed steel column has a unique QR code containing 12 parameters, including component dimensions, hoisting weight, and installation coordinates,” engineer Duan Rong said.
Eliminating potential errors before installation is only the first step in achieving precise installation.
During construction, how can 6,795 steel columns and 32,624 steel beams be installed and connected sequentially? Gu Feng said: “Conventionally, the construction team would need manual measurement and repeated adjustments to ensure installation accuracy. Now, the team first creates a 1:1 BIM three-dimensional model on the computer, specifying the parameters of each steel structural component to the millimeter level. Then, through simulated hoisting, they plan the crane position, lifting points, and lifting angles in advance. It’s like installing a ‘navigation system’ for the components. During hoisting, the BIM model is used to compare real-time field data, and an automatic warning is triggered if the deviation exceeds 3 millimeters.” Tests have shown that the qualification rate for the steel structural components hoisted so far is 100%.
Gu Feng introduced that after the project is fully completed, the Pinghu South Comprehensive Logistics Hub will handle approximately 1.4 million TEUs of sea-rail intermodal transport for Shenzhen, driving a 30% increase in regional logistics efficiency and a 20% reduction in costs. It will become Asia’s largest single-scale “highway, railway, and maritime” multimodal transport center and a national-level comprehensive logistics hub, helping Shenzhen stride towards its goal of becoming a global logistics hub city and injecting strong momentum into the economic development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Extended Reading
The Shenzhen Pinghu South Comprehensive Logistics Hub is the only project in China that utilizes traditional railway yard land through stratified rights confirmation for comprehensive development. The project pioneered the development model of “intensive use of existing land in railway freight stations” nationwide. It adopts three-dimensional development, organically integrating railway, highway, and maritime functions, building a super logistics platform featuring “lower-level railway thoroughfares, upper-level smart warehousing, and a surrounding road network.” After the project is fully completed, it is expected to handle a cargo throughput of 30 million tons by 2035.
The ground-level railway project, which has already met the conditions for operation, serves as the “steel artery” for the hub’s operation. The project team needed to build and renovate approximately 4.6 kilometers of railway lines on the basis of the existing railway yard, including arrival-departure lines, shunting lines, and container operation lines. Facing challenges such as high safety risks from construction adjacent to operating lines and limited work windows, the project team innovatively applied intelligent dispatching systems and modular track construction technologies, introducing smart measures such as AI video monitoring and smart helmet recognition to achieve risk warnings and intelligent control throughout the construction process, efficiently completing the line renovation while ensuring the normal operation of the existing railway.
For the builders, intelligent construction is not only a technological upgrade but also a transformation in engineering philosophy. The construction team’s repeated breakthroughs in areas such as virtual pre-assembly and real-time correction have not only ensured the project’s progress but also accumulated valuable experience for similar future projects in China. In the future, with the development of more new business forms such as “high-speed rail + logistics” and “subway + logistics,” as well as continuous breakthroughs in intelligent construction technology, the new landscape of urban logistics will have more possibilities, providing strong infrastructure support for reducing the overall logistics cost of society.
(Compiled from interviews by our reporter Li Zong)
People’s Daily (May 15, 2026, Edition 06)
