The new Hainan Western Ring High-Speed Railway, primarily for passenger service, has been constructed along a fairly similar but slightly shorter (344 km) route.

Another line constructed during the Japanese occupation ran along the island's southwestern coast, from Basuo to the Anyou port facilities (18°13′00″N 109°33′00″E / 18.21667°N 109.55000°E / 18.21667; 109.55000) in Sanya, via Huangliu and Lingtou (18°41′15″N 108°42′15″E / 18.68750°N 108.70417°E / 18.68750; 108.70417).

However, in 1965 the Huangliu–Lingtou section was closed again, because its main customer, the Jianfengling forestry enterprise (尖峰岭林场), stopped shipping timber by rail.

In 2004, the railway from Haikou to Chahe Station (on the Basuo–Shilu line, near Shilu) was completed, making the short Chahe-Shilu section into a secondary dead-end branch.

In 2007, the reopened railway started receiving passenger trains from China's mainland; after crossing from Guangdong to Haikou on the ferry, they would continue along the entire length of the Hainan western ring to Sanya.

As of 2012, however, most of the trains from the mainland terminate in Haikou, where the passengers can transfer to the new Hainan Eastern Ring high-speed Railway.