THE century-old Buji Railway Station was officially renamed Shenzhen East Railway Station yesterday and is set to become the first of the city’s three secondary railway terminals to go into service.

The two major stations are Shenzhen Railway Station and Shenzhen North Railway Station, while the other two secondary stations are the under-construction station in central Futian District and the station in Pingshan New Area, which was the former Shenzhen East Railway Station and is yet to be renamed.

The new Shenzhen East will handle middle- and long-distance, lower-speed trains, including trains to Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces. The station is undergoing final inspections.

Previous reports said it would open before Spring Festival 2013, but Shenzhen’s rail authority hasn’t yet confirmed its opening date.

Shenzhen East will have six platforms and host 11 railways, including four railways with Guangzhou-Shenzhen trains. The renovated station will have three ticket halls and a waiting hall of 7,100 square meters.

Built in 1911, Buji Railway Station was the oldest train station in Shenzhen. Facing Longgang Boulevard to the east, it hosted ordinary express trains and slow trains. Renovations of the station began in 2004.

City plans include a total of five railway stations in the future, each with designated functions.

Shenzhen Railway Station will be the main hub for inter-city trains in Guangdong Province, for example, and its current long-distance trains to Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guilin and Fuzhou will be relocated to Shenzhen East in the future. Current bullet trains between Shenzhen and Guangzhou, however, will stay.

Shenzhen North Railway Station is designated for high-speed trains. In addition to the current trains to Guangzhou, Changsha, Wuhan, Zhengzhou and Xi’an, it could start servicing trains to Beijing within the year and will eventually service trains to Xiamen and Shanghai.

The Futian station, which is under construction and could be the largest underground station in China, will operate high-speed, special passenger lines to Hong Kong.

The Pingshan station doesn’t yet have an official name but will be the first station in the city to receive high-speed trains from Xiamen will arrive at.

There is not yet a confirmed plan for the future of Shenzhen West Railway Station in Nanshan District, which now hosts some long-distance, lower-speed trains.

(Han Ximin)