Thursday, September 11, 2008

Yuehan railway

The Yuehan railway is an older railway now incorporated into the Jingguang Railway. The older Canton–Hankou Railway ran from Guangzhou to . Another line, the Peiking – Hankou Railway ended across the river at Hankou. Before the First Chang River Bridge was built in 1957, linking the two railways it could take up to an entire day to barge railcars across the river to the other line.

Shangjiu Railway

The Shangjiu Railway is a railway in the People's Republic of China connects Shanghai Railway Station with the Hung Hom Station in Kowloon. The Shanghai-Kowloon Through Train service uses this line.

Qinshen Passenger Railway

Qinshen passenger railway is a passenger-dedicated high-speed railway between Qinhuangdao and Shenyang, spanning a distance of 405 km. Opened in 2003, it is the first newly built high-speed railway in China, costing RMB 16 billion . It is an electrified dual-track railway designed for a top speed of 200 km/h. By 2007 its top speed is increased to 250km/h and will be further upgraded to 300 km/h. In 2002, high-speed train China Star achieved a top speed of 321 km/h on Qingshen railway, setting a record for Chinese train speed. Currently, most of the passenger trains between Qinhuangdao to Shenyang are diverted to this railway from .

Trains D24 and D28 between Shenyang and Qinhuangdao have a start to stop average speed of 197.1 km/h, the fastest rail service in China.

Qingzang railway

The Qingzang railway, Qinghai–Xizang railway, or Qinghai–Tibet railway , is a high-altitude railway that connects Xining, , to Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, in .

The total length of Qingzang railway is 1956 km. Construction of the 815 km section between Xining and Golmud was completed by 1984. The 1142 km section between Golmud and Lhasa was inaugurated on 1 July 2006 by president Hu Jintao: the first two passenger trains were "Qing 1" from Golmud to Lhasa, and "Zang 2" from Lhasa. This railway is the first to connect China proper with the Tibet Autonomous Region, which due to its altitude and terrain is the last in the People's Republic of China to have a conventional railway. Testing of the line and equipment started on May 1 2006. Trains run from Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xining and Lanzhou.

The line includes the Tanggula Pass, at 5,072 above sea level the world's highest rail track. The 1,338 m Fenghuoshan tunnel is the highest rail tunnel in the world, at 4,905 m . The 3,345-m Yangbajing tunnel is the longest tunnel on the line. It is 4,264 m above sea level, 80 kilometres north-west of Lhasa.

More than 960 km, or over 80% of the Golmud-Lhasa section, is at an altitude of more than 4,000 m. There are 675 bridges, totalling 159.88 km, and about 550 km of the railway is laid on permafrost.

Stations





In the Golmud to Lhasa part of the line, 45 stations are open, 38 of which are unstaffed, monitored in the control center in Xining. Thirteen more stations are planned.

Trains and tickets



The trains are specially built for high altitude environment. The used on Golmud-Lhasa section were made by GE in Pennsylvania, and the passenger carriages are Chinese-made 25T carriages: on train T27/T28, between Beijing West and Lhasa, BSP carriages are from Bombardier. Carriages used on the Golmud-Lhasa section are either deep green/yellow or deep red/yellow. Signs in the carriages are in Tibetan, Simplified Chinese and English. The operational speed is 120 km/h, 100 km/h in sections laid on permafrost.

The 1,142-km Qinghai–Tibet railway from Golmud to Lhasa was completed on October 12 2005. It opened to regular trial service on July 1, 2006. During the one-year trial period, three passenger trains ran from Beijing, Chengdu/Chongqing, and Xining/Lanzhou, numbered T27/T28, T22/T23/T24/T21, T222/T223/T224/T221, N917/N918, K917/K918, respectively. Train T27 from Beijing to Lhasa takes 47 hours 28 minutes, covering 4,064 km , departs at 21:30 from , and arrives in Lhasa at 20:58 on the third day. A ticket costs 389 for hard seat, CNY? 813 for a lower hard sleeper , or CNY? 1,262 for a lower soft sleeper . T28 from Lhasa to Beijing West departs at 08:00 and arrives in Beijing at 08:00 on the third day, takes 48 hours.

Apart from hard seat tickets, there is an extra charge for forward-facing seats/berths. Compared with standard pricing for the same class, the soft seat, hard sleeper and soft sleeper tickets have an added charge of 0.09, 0.10 or 0.16 yuan per kilometre per person respectively.

Trains from Shanghai and Guangzhou started on October 1 2006. Train T264/5 from Guangzhou departs at 10:29 every other day and arrives in Lhasa at 19:50 on the third day , while T266/3 departs Lhasa at 08:32 and arrive in Guangzhou at 19:37 on the third day . Trains T164/5 from Shanghai to Lhasa depart at 16:11 from Shanghai, via Wuxi, Nanjing, Bengbu, Zhengzhou, Xi'an, Lanzhou, Xining, Golmud, Nagqu, arrive in Lhasa at 19:50 on the third day . Trains T166/3 from Lhasa to Shanghai depart at 08:32 and arrive in Shanghai at 13:45 on the third day . Therefore, the Beijing and Lhasa journey is the shortest in terms of time duration.

A ''Passenger Health Registration Card'' is required to take the train. The card can be obtained when purchasing the ticket. Passengers must read the health notice for high-altitude travel and sign the agreement on the card to take the train. On August 28 2006 a 75-year-old Hong Kong man was reported to be the first passenger to die on the train, after he had suffered heart problems in Lhasa but insisted on travelling to Xining. On November 19 2006 a woman died giving birth to a child on her own in a toilet.

Ticket prices for five-carriage trains in the testing period were as follows:





Oxygen supply




From October 2006 five pairs of passenger trains run between Golmud and Lhasa, and one more pair between Xining and Golmud. The line has a capacity of eight pairs of passenger trains, and the carriages are specially built and have an oxygen supply for each passenger.

Construction




Since in early 1950s, the Chinese government has dreamed of building a railway connecting Tibet to China proper. Engineers were sent to investigate the possibility, but shortage of technology and money prevented the project from starting.

The 815 km section from Xining, Qinghai to Golmud, Qinghai opened to traffic in 1984. Construction of the remaining 1,142 km section from Golmud to Lhasa could not be started until the recent economic growth of China. This section was formally started on 29 June 2001. This section was finished on October 12, 2005, and signalling work and track testing took another eight months. It was completed in five years at a cost of $3.68 billion.

Track-laying in Tibet was launched from both directions, towards Tanggula Mountain and Lhasa, from Anduo Railway Station on 22 June 2004. On 24 August 2005, was laid at the railway's highest point, the Tanggula Pass, 5,072 m above sea level.

Forty-four railway stations are to be built, among them Tanggula Mountain railway station, at 5,068 m the world's highest . The Qingzang Railway project involved more than 20,000 workers and over 6,000 pieces of industrial equipment, and is considered one of China's major accomplishments of the 21st century.

Bombardier Transportation provided 361 high-altitude passenger carriages with special enriched-oxygen and UV-protection systems, delivered between December 2005 and May 2006. Fifty-three are luxury sleeper carriages for tourist services.

The construction of the railway was part of the China Western Development strategy, an attempt to develop the western provinces of China, which are much less developed than eastern China. The railway will be extended to Zhangmu via Shigatse to the west, and via Nyingchi to the east. A further extension is planned to link Shigatse with Yadong near the China-India border . The railway is considered one of the greatest feats achieved in modern Chinese history by the government, and as a result is often mentioned on regular TV programs. Chinese-Tibetan folk singer Han Hong has a song called ''Tianlu'' praising and glorifying the Qingzang Railway.



Future Extensions


In a meeting between Chinese and Nepalese officials on April 25 2008, the Chinese delegation announced that country's intention to extend the Qingzang railway from Lhasa to on the Nepalese border. Nepal had requested that the railway be extended to enable trade and tourism between the two nations. Construction of the extension is planned to be completed by 2013. On 2008-08-17, a railway spokesman confirmed plans to add six more rail lines to the Qinghai-Tibet railway. The six new tracks include one from Lhasa to Nyingchi and one from Lhasa to Xigaze, both in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Three tracks will originate from Golmud in Qinghai province and run to Chengdu in Sichuan province, Dunhuang in Gansu province, and Kuerle of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The sixth will link Xining, capital of Qinghai, with Zhangye in Gansu. The six lines are expected to be completed and put into operation before 2020.

Possible stations include:
* Khasa
* Yatung
* Nathu La - a mountain pass near Indian state of Sikkim.
* Nyingchi - an important trading town north Arunachal Pradesh, at the tri-junction with Myanmar .

* Birganj - nearest railhead in Nepal of 1676mm gauge Indian Railways

* Raxaul in Bihar state - 1667mm gauge and/or 1000mm ?

Engineering challenges




There were and are many technical difficulties for such a railway. About half of the second section was built on ''barely permanent permafrost''. In the summer, the uppermost layer thaws, and the ground becomes muddy. Chinese engineers dealt with this problem by building elevated tracks with foundations sunk deep into the ground, building hollow concrete pipes beneath the tracks to keep the rail bed frozen, and using metal sun shades. Similar to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System portions of the track are also passively cooled with ammonia based heat exchangers.



The air in Tibet is much thinner, having 35% to 40% less oxygen than at sea level. Special passenger carriages are used, and several oxygen factories were built along the railway. At this altitude in these latitudes, water in toilets must be heated to prevent freezing. The Chinese government claimed that no construction worker died during the construction due to altitude sickness related diseases. The railway passes the Kunlun Mountains, an earthquake zone. A magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck in 2001. Dozens of earthquake monitors have been installed along the railway.

Economic impact



With limited industrial capacity in Tibet, the Tibetan economy heavily relies on industrial products from more developed parts of China. Transport of goods in and out of Tibet was mostly through the Qingzang Highway connecting Tibet to the adjacent Qinghai province, which was built in the early 1950s. The length and terrain have limited the capacity of the highway, with less than 1 million tons of goods transported each year. With the construction of the Qingzang railway, the cost of transportation of both passengers and goods should be greatly reduced, allowing for an increase in volume—the cost per tonne-kilometer will be reduced from 0.38 RMB to 0.12 RMB. It is projected that by 2010 2.8 million tons will be carried to and from Tibet, with over 75% carried by the railway. This is expected to boost and transform the Tibetan economy.

Environmental impact


The environmental impact of the new railway is an ongoing concern. The increase in passenger traffic will result in greater tourism and economic activity on the Tibetan Plateau.

Dejectas and junks are collected into two vacuum containers in every car and not chucked on the tracks. They are taken out after arriving at the terminus.

Wood is the main fuel source for rural inhabitants in certain regions of Tibet. The damage to the ecosystem caused by cutting trees for fuel takes years to recover due to slow growth caused by Tibet's harsh environmental conditions. The railway would make coal, which is not produced in Tibet, an affordable replacement. However, the increase in fuel combustion due to increased human activity in an already-thin atmosphere may affect the long term health of the local population.

The effects of this railway on wild animals such as Tibetan antelope and plants are currently unknown. Thirty-three overpasses were constructed specifically to allow continued animal migration. is the Google Maps satellite image of one such bridge.

Criticism



Opponents of China's Tibet policies claimed that the railway was built to strengthen its political control over Tibet.

It is alleged by these opponents that the railway will encourage further immigration from the rest of China, reducing the proportion of Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Tibetans find it increasingly difficult to compete in the job market against skilled workers .

Tibetans independence supporters have also expressed concerns that the government will use the railway to strengthen its military presence in the Tibet Autonomous Region as well as to further exploit Tibet's natural resources and damage its environment. As a result, Bombardier Transportation, a Canadian company, has faced international criticism from some pro-independence organizations for its involvement in constructing rail cars for the project.

Fleet


* 361 /Power Corporation of Canada/China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry Corporation High-Grade Coach - 308 standard cars and 53 special tourist cars
* GE Transportation locomotive
* Qishuyang Locomotive Factory DF8CJ 9000 series locomotive - similar to the Bombardier Transportation-GE Transportation Blue Tiger diesel electric locomotive

Luoding Railway

The Luoding Railway is a privately owned railway in Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China. It became the first and only privately owned passenger rail service in the People's Republic of China in 2006, when it was sold to Tianjin-based Zhongji Industrial Corporation.

Longhai Railway

The Longhai railway is China's east-west railway artery. It starts from Lianyungang of Jiangsu Province and ends at Lanzhou of Gansu province, running through Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces, covering a total length of 1,759 km.

History


The construction of the section from Kaifeng to Luoyang started in 1904, and was completed in 1910.

Since then, the line extension eastward to Xuzhou was completed in 1916, to Haizhou in 1925, and to Lianyungang in 1934. The westbound extension project to Lingbao was completed in 1927, to Xi'an in 1935, to Baoji in 1936, and Tianshui in 1945.

The Tianshui to Lanzhou section broke ground in April 1950 and was completed in July 1953. At this time, the complete line of the Longhai Railway opened to the public.

From 1956 to 1970, the section between Zhengzhou to Baoji was upgraded to the dual-track line.
During the same time, the line near Sanmenxia was re-routed due to the Sanmenxia Reservoir Project. Zhengzhou to Shangqiu section was converted to dual-track in 1980.

List of major cities passing through


* Jiangsu Province : Lianyungang , Xuzhou
* Anhui Province : Huaibei
* Henan Province : Shangqiu , Kaifeng , Zhengzhou , Luoyang , Sanmenxia
* Shaanxi Province :Weinan , Xi'an , Xianyang , Baoji
* Gansu Province : Tianshui , Dingxi , Lanzhou



Other railways intersecting with Longhai railway


* Jinpu Railway 津浦铁路 : at Xuzhou
* Jingjiu Railway 京九铁路: at Shangqiu
* Jingguang Railway 京广铁路: at Zhengzhou
* Jiaozhi Railway 焦枝铁路: at Luoyang
* NanTongpu Railway 南同蒲铁路: at Tongguan
* Xikang Railway 西康铁路: at Xi'an
* Baocheng Railway 宝成铁路: at Baoji

Current status


The Railway line is the principal line between China's east and west, and one of the busiest railway in China. It has dual tracks throughout the whole line, and the lines between Xuzhou and Lanzhou has been electrified.

Lanxin railway

The Lanxin railway, or Lanzhou–Xinjiang railway is a in the People's Republic of China.

The railway is the only railway linking Xinjiang to the rest of China. It extends 1903.8 kilometers from Lanzhou to the Urumqi, and another 477 kilometers extended line to Alataw Pass , where China's Alashankou railway station is connected to Kazakhstan's Dostyk station.

It forms part of the Second Eurasian Continental Bridge which extends from eastern China to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

For part of its path, it travels along a similar route to that of the Silk Road.

It was built by the China Railway Engineering Corporation. Construction of the initial stage started in 1952 and was completed in 1962. The extension to the Kazakhstan border was built in the late 1980s, linkup with the achieved on September 12, 1990. After the completion of the 20km Wushaoling Tunnel in 2006, the railway from Lanzhou to Urumqi is all double-tracked.

Lanqing railway

Lanqing railway was built as the first step of an ambitious plan set by the People's Republic of China to connect Tibet with the rest of China by railway. LanQing railway, designed in 1956 and built from May 1958 to September 1959, runs 188 Kilometers long, connecting Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu province, and Xining, the capital city of Qinghai province. It is currently the only railway that connects Qinghai-Tibet region with the rest of China.

The second step of the original plan is the ''Qingzang railway'', a 1956-kilometer railroad that starts from Xining, first runs west bound to the city of Golmud, also in Qinghai province, and then runs south bound towards Tibet and finally ends in Lhasa. This plan proved to be very challenging as the Qinghai-Tibet plateau is some of the highest terrain in the world. The segment between Xining and Golmud, measured 814 kilometers long, was completed in 1979, and became operational in 1984. However, the final segment of the QingZang railway, from Golmud to Lhasa, was put on hold for almost two decades due to the high elevation and complex terrain of the region. This project was revived again in 2001, and was finally completed in October 2005. After signalling work and track testing it was inaugurated on 1 July 2006.

Jitong railway

Jitong railway is a 945km railway in Inner Mongolia, China opened in 1995. Its start point is at and ends at Tongliao.

World's last mainline steam train service


Due to China's low labor cost, ease to manufacture steam engines and cheap coal price, China was one of the last country to retire steam locomotives on mainline services. Due to its closeness to coal mines, the Jitong railway was the last mainline railway in world to use steam locomotives. Many of these locomotives were the large 2-10-2 type engines and often trains had 2 locomotives on their head end. On December 8, 2005, the worlds last regular mainline steam train finished its journey, marking the end of steam era. The steam locomotives were replaced by the DF4 diesel locomotives.

Two QJ steam locomotives, 6988 and 7081, were delivered to USA for preservation.
They ran many excursions including one with ex Milwaukee Road 261, a 4-8-4 northern. This was the first triple headed steam train in many years in the USA.

Jinpu railway

The Jinpu railway runs from Tianjin to Pukou in Jiangsu province. Rail traffic had to be ferried across the Yangtze to Nanjing to connect with the railroads passing through that city until a bridge was built across the river in 1968. Currently, it is the main section of Jinghu railway.

Jingjiu railway

Jingjiu Railway is a railway in the People's Republic of China connecting in Beijing to in Shenzhen, . It then follows the rail-link between Shenzhen to the special administrative region of Hong Kong to in Kowloon.

It is a dual-track railway. Construction began in February 1993. It was opened in 1996, connecting Beijing and Kowloon through Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Jiangxi and Guangdong, with a length of 2397 kilometres. It has 790 bridges and 160 tunnels. The Jiujiang , at a length of 7,679 metres, is the longest across the Yangtze River. Located between Jinghu Railway and Jingguang Railway , it was built to alleviate the congested Jingguang Railway, and to foster development in the areas to the east of Jingguang Railway.

The idea had been proposed for a long time, and some of the sections, such as the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge, were built before construction of the whole line official began. Some were converted from existing sections, such as between Jiujiang and Nanchang, and Fouyang and Shangqiu.

It shares the same route with the Guangmeishan Railway between and Dongguan. It joins the Guangshen Railway at Dongguan, and follows the same route. Within Hong Kong, it shares the same pair of tracks with the .

Beijing-Kowloon Through Train services are currently provided on the Jingguang Railway and Guangshen Railway, instead of the Jingjiu Railway. Passengers are required to go through customs and immigration checks for the cross-border service.

Places served

Jinghu railway

The Jinghu railway is a train line running between Beijing and Shanghai in China through Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Anhui Jiangsu. It has a total length of 1462 kilometres. In Chinese, "Jing" denotes "the capital" and "Hu" stands for Shanghai.

History


The Jinghu railway is composed of three sections. These three sections are ones of the earliest railways in China, built before 1910. The first section is from Beijing to Tianjin, sharing the same route with the Jingha railway. This section used to be part of .

The second section is from Tianjin to Pukou and used to be called as Tianjin-Pukou Railway. Between Pukou and Nanjing the railway crosses Yangtze River. Trains were ferried across the river before the completion of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in 1968.

The third section is from Nanjing to Shanghai. This section is called Huning railway. During 1927-1949, however, when China's capital was Nanjing, this section alone was called Jinghu railway.

After the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge completed in 1968, these three sections are linked together and renamed as a whole as Jinghu railway.

Current status


The Railway line is the principal line between Beijing and Shanghai and one of the busiest railway in China. It has dual tracks between Tianjin and Shanghai, three tracks between Beijing and Tianjin and the full length of the railway has been electrified. Passenger rail service now offers non-stop overnight service on Z1 and Z21 trains. Beijing-Shanghai Express Railway is expected to be constructed parallel to it to divert the passenger traffic from the overcrowded Jinghu railway.

Jinghan railway

The Jinghan railway is a railway line extending from Beijing, in Hebei Province to Hankou in Hubei province, now part of the Jingguang Railway. Across the Yangtze river in was another line, the Canton - Hankou Railway that ran from to Wuchang. Before the First Chang River Bridge was built in 1957, linking the two railways it could take up to an entire day to barge railcars across the Yangtse River to the other line.

Jingha railway

The Jingha railway is the that connects Beijing with Harbin in Heilongjiang Province, in mainland China. It spans 1388 kilometers. It is a very prominent route in the Manchurian Provinces of northeastern China.

History



Construction of the section between Tangshan and Tianjin began in 1881. This section is the second oldest railway in China and the oldest still in use. Later this section was extended west to Beijing, and east to Shanhaiguan. It was further extended to the east and reached Shenyang, Liaoning province, by 1912. Then the whole railway from Beijing to Shenyang was named as Jingfeng Railway , later Beining Railway .

The section from Shenyang to Harbin used to be a part of the South Manchuria branch of the Chinese Eastern Railway, built from 1898 to 1902. Later, the section from Changchun to Shenyang became part of the South Manchuria Railway. There used to be no linking line between the Jingfeng Railway and the South Manchuria Railway. A bridge was built for the south Manchuria Railway to cross the Jingfeng Railway. The Huanggutun Incident took place on June 4, 1928 right at this bridge, several kilometers east of the Huanggutun railway station on Jingfeng railway. During the Japanese occupation of Manchuria , the Jingfeng railway and the south Manchuria railway was connected together. After 1949, the Jingfeng Railway and the Shenyang to Harbin section of the south Manchuria railway were altogether named as Jingha railway.

Current Status



Currently, between Beijing and Tianjin, Jingha railway shares the route with the Jinghu Railway and has three tracks. Between Tianjin and Shanyang, it has double tracks. From Shanhaiguan to Shenyang, it parallels with the Qinshen Passenger Railway, a dual-track 200km/h express passenger railway diverting the traffic from the Shenshan railway. The section from Beijing to Shanhaiguan sometimes is also referred as Jingshan Railway and from Shanhaiguan to Shenyang Shenshan railway. The section from Shenyang to Harbin is double-track and electrified.

Important cities en route


*Beijing
*Tianjin
*Hebei Province:Langfang, Tangshan, Qinhuangdao
*Liaoning Province:Huludao, Jinzhou, Shenyang, Tieling
*Jilin Province:Siping, Changchun
*Heilongjiang Province:Harbin

Mileage



StationMileage
0
Langfang, Hebei74
Tianjin137
Tanggu177
Entering Hebei
Tangshan260
Qu County331
Beidaihe400
Qinhuangdao422
Shanhaiguan438
Entering Liaoning
Xingcheng550
Jinzhou622
Goubangzi685
Dahushan727
867
Tieling935
Entering Jilin
1053
Gongzhuling1107
Changchun1169
Entering Heilongjiang
Harbin1411

Jingguang railway

Jingguang railway is a major artery railway in the connecting Beijing West railway station in Beijing to Guangzhou railway station in Guangzhou, Guangdong.

The railway is jointed by two sections. The northern section, Jinghan railway, is from Beijing to Hankou, and the southern section, , is from to Guangzhou. Jinghan railway was finished by 1905 and Wuguang railway was finished in 1936. Between Hankou and Wuchang, there is the Yangtze River. The two sections were finally jointed together in 1957, when the was built.

Jingguang railway connects the cities of Beijing and Guangzhou through 6 provinces, namely Beijing, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan and Guangdong, with a length of 2324 kilometres. Currently, the nonstop "Jingjiu" Through Train operates on this line. Prior to 2003, this train called at stops along the route before they were eliminated to create a through service directly from the capital to Hong Kong.

On Feb. 7, 1923, Jinghan Railway workers launched a great strike to struggle for workers' rights and interests and combat cruel oppression by warlords. The strike, carried out under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, sparked the Chinese workers movement.

Places served


From north to south:
*Shijiazhuang
*Handan
*Xinxiang
*Zhengzhou
*Luohe
*Xinyang
*Hankou
*
*Yueyang
*Changsha
*Zhuzhou
*Hengyang
*Shaoguan
*Guangzhou

Jingbao railway

The Jingbao railway is a 833 km railway from Beijing to Baotou, Inner Mongolia in mainland China. It is a very important route in northwestern China.

The first section of this railway, Jingzhang railway was constructed between 1905 and 1909, connecting Beijing with Zhangjiakou. This section was the first railway designed and built by Chinese. The chief engineer is Jeme Tien Yow. He overcame the steep gradient near Badaling using a . Due to his achievement in constructing this railway, Zhan is called the father of China's railway.

The railway was extended from Zhangjiakou to Hohhot by 1921 and to Baotou by 1923.

Even with the , the gradient near Qinglongqiao railway station is still at 3.3%. In addition, travelling through the switch back is slow. A bypass route, Fengsha Railway was built in 1950s between Fengtai and Shacheng along the . This route was dropped by Zhan due to high construction cost. Currently, the Fengsha railway is mainly used to transport cargos, and the original Jingzhang railway is focused on the passenger transportation. The Qinglongqiao railway station, where the switchback located, is the station serving the Great Wall near Badaling.

Both Jingbao railway and Fengsha railway are double track railway.

Stations and Mileage





Major StationMileage
0
121
171
196
374
501
659
824

Jiaoji railway

Jiaoji Railway is a west-east railway that connects Qingdao and Jinan of , China. The railway started being built on September 23, 1897.

Guangshen railway

Guangshen Railway or Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway is a railway in the of the People's Republic of China, between Guangzhou and Shenzhen. It is operated by Guangshen Railway Company Limited.

It was formerly known as 廣九鐵路華段 during the Republic of China era .

With a length of 146 kilometres, it was the first railway in the People's Republic of China to reach the speed of 220 , though it is limited to about 200 km/h during commercial operation. It has a dual-track 200-km/h passenger line, and a single-track 120-km/h mixed passenger and freight line. Construction of a fourth track has commenced in 2005, and will be the first four-track railway in mainland China.

The run uses Swedish-built Xinshisu tilting trains with a pitch of up to 8 degrees. The trains are 165m long, consisting of a power car, five passenger cars, and a trailing car. They are noted for being very quiet even at 200 km/h.

It meets the Jingjiu Railway in Dongguan, with which shares its route. It joins the on the border with Hong Kong, a special administrative region of the PRC since 1997.

Cross-border services from Hong Kong to Dongguan , Guangzhou East, Foshan and Zhaoqing, as well as to and Shanghai use its route.

Places served


Places served by this line include:
*Guangzhou
*Shilong
*Dongguan
*Zhangmutou
*Tangtouxia
*
*Buji
*Shenzhen North
*Shenzhen

Fleet


current


* - High-speed EMU trains manufactured by BSP . Now serving between Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
* DF4B - Diesel electric locos made by CSR Ziyang Locomotive Works. Used for hauling long distance trains.
* DF5D - Diesel electric locos made by China Northern Locomotive and Rolling Stock Group. Used for shunting.
* DF9 - Diesel electric locos made by Qishuyan Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works. Used as spare.
* DF11 - high speed diesel electric loco made by Qishuyan Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works. Used for hauling long distance and through-trains.
* DF11G - high speed diesel electric loco made by Qishuyan Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works. Used for hauling long distance trains.
* DF12 - Diesel electric locos made by CSR Ziyang Locomotive Works. Used for shunting.
* - sub high speed passenger electric loco - 5 manufactured by Zhuzhou. Used for hauling long distance trains.
* - sub high speed passenger electric loco manufactured by CSR Zhuzhou Locomotive Works. Used for hauling long distance trains.
* RW119K passenger cars. Used in long distance trains.

previous


* - Push-pull tilting train manufactured by ABB of Sweden. The train is now in Chongqing.
* - Push-pull high speed train with an electric loco and six passenger cars manufactured by Zhuzhou and Changchun. Currently running between Chongqing and Chengdu.

Depot


* GuangTieShenDuan

Daqin Railway

Daqing Railway, operated by Daqin Railway Company Limited, is a 653km coal-transport railway in north China built during 1985 to 1992. It starts from the coal mines in Datong, Shanxi province, passing Shanxi, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin and ends at Qinghuangdao port in Hebei province, China's largest coal port. This railway serves as a major channel for transporting coal produced in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia to south China and is the largest coal haul railway in China. It is an electrified double track heavy haul railway with few passenger train services. Currently, the largest freight train unit operated in this railway is 20000 tonnes, the largest in China. It transported 150 million tonnes freight in 2004, 200 million tonnes in 2005, 250 million tonnes in 2006 and 300 million tonnes in 2007.

Beijing Suburban Railway

Beijing Suburban Railway is a commuter rail service serving urban Beijing and beyond the reach of the city's Beijing Subway network. The "S"-numbered suburban rail lines are managed by the Beijing Railway Bureau, an agency of the that is not affiliated with the Beijing Mass Transit Railway Operation Corp., Ltd, the municipal company that operates the subway. Hence, the S-Lines run on separate tracks and stations and have a different fare schedule from the subway.

The , which runs from Beijing North Railway Station to Yanqing County was the first to enter into operation, on August 6, 2008.

The , currently in advanced planning stages, will run from Mentougou District west of the city to Pingguoyuan and Wulu, the western termini of and of the Beijing Subway.

According to current plans, there will be six S-Lines by 2020 with a total length of 360 km that will span from the city centre to Mentougou, Miyun, Pinggu, Shunyi, Huangcun, and Fangshan.