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.