Type Heavy rail Status In operation Locale China | System China Railways Line length 1,462 km (908 mi) Operator China Railway | |
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Opened 1912 (first section)
1968 (whole line) Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ⁄2 in) Terminis Shanghai Railway Station, Beijing Railway Station | ||
The Beijing–Shanghai Railway or Jinghu railway (simplified Chinese: 京沪铁路; traditional Chinese: 京滬鐵路; pinyin: Jīnghù tiĕlù) is a railway line in China between Beijing and Shanghai.
Contents
The line has a total length of 1,462 kilometres and connects the municipalities of Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai, as well as the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Anhui and Jiangsu. It is commonly referred to as the Jinghu Railway, taking on the abbreviated names of the two terminal cities. In Chinese, Jing means "capital" and refers to Beijing, and Hu is the abbreviated name for Shanghai.
History
The Beijing–Shanghai railway is composed of three sections. These three sections are some of the earliest railways in China, built before 1910 during the Qing dynasty. The first section is from Beijing to Tianjin, constructed as part of the Imperial Railways of Northern China between 1897 and 1900.
The second section is from Tianjin to Pukou – a suburb of Nanjing – and used to be called the Tianjin–Pukou Railway.
The third section is from Nanjing to Shanghai, built between 1905 and 1908. This section is called Shanghai–Nanjing Railway. During 1927–1949, however, when China's capital was Nanjing, this section alone was called the "Jinghu" railway.
Between Pukou and Xiaguan, the railway crosses the Yangtze River. Before the completion of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in 1968, the trains were ferried across car-by-car. Passengers could also disembark at Nanjing North (Pukou), take a passenger ferry, and take a train again at the then Nanjing main station south of the river (now known as Nanjing West).
After the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge was completed in 1968, these three sections were linked together and renamed as a single Beijing–Shanghai or Jinghu Railway.
Current status
The railway line is the principal line between Beijing and Shanghai and along with the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway, it serves as one of the busiest rail corridors in China. It has dual tracks between Beijing and Shanghai, and the full length of the railway has been electrified. The entie line is dual-tracks. Passenger rail service now offers non-stop overnight service on CRH Sleepers (D-series trains).
D type express day bullet and overnight sleeper bullet trains have now commenced operation between Beijing and Shanghai. There are currently 1 day and 3 overnight D bullet trains. Overnight Bullet trains take between 9 hours, 59 minutes and 11 hours, 4 minutes to complete the trip and are Soft sleeper only.
On June 30, 2011, the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway opened and runs roughly parallel to the Beijing–Shanghai Railway. The opening of the high-speed railway relieved the Beijing–Shanghai Railway from overcrowding, and it's increasingly shifted to freight traffic. As of early 2015, 5 regular trains per day go full way from Beijing to Shanghai on the old line, although hundreds of trains still use selected sections of it.