Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu High Speed Railway

Components

All sections are now operational.

Operational lines are marked with green background.

Shanghai–Nanjing

From Shanghai to Nanjing, the line is called the Shanghai–Nanjing Intercity Railway. The Shanghai-Nanjing Intercity Railway opened on July 1, 2010. It has a designed operating speed of 350 km/h. Shanghai is an important railway hub in China as it is also the terminus of the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway, which is an high-speed railway that parallels all of this section, as well as the Shanghai–Kunming High-Speed Railway.

Nanjing to Hefei

From Nanjing to Hefei, the line is called the Hefei–Nanjing Passenger Railway, with a designed speed of 250 km/h. At Hefei, a connection is available to the Hefei–Bengbu High-Speed Railway, which is a branch line of the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway.

Hefei to Wuhan

From Hefei to Wuhan, the line is called the Hefei–Wuhan High-Speed Railway, with a designed speed of 250 km/h. At Wuhan, a connection is available to the Beijing–Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong High-Speed Railway, an important north-south railway line from Beijing to Guangzhou and Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Wuhan to Yichang

From Wuhan to Yichang, the line is called the Wuhan–Yichang Railway.

Yichang–Wanzhou Railway

The Yichang–Wanzhou Railway connects the cities of Yichang, Lichuan, and Wanzhou. The Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu Passenger Dedicated Line only uses the Yichang to Lichuan portion of the Yichang–Wanzhou Railway.

Unlike other sections of the Shanghai-Chengdu railway, as of the beginning of 2014 the Yichang–Lichuan–Wanzhou does not yet have proper high-speed train service (D- or G-series). It is used extensively by "conventional" passenger trains (with the T-series being the fastest). The delay with the introduction of the high-speed service on this section is explained by the need to integrate signalling and other infrastructure. Regular CRH services between Chongqing and Wuhan is expected to commence on July 1, 2014, after renovations and other associated high-speed rail works are completed. However, the opening of high-speed service (as opposed to "regular" trains) on the Yiwan line won't happen until July 1, 2014.

Chongqing–Lichuan Railway

At Lichuan, the Chongqing–Lichuan Railway connects it with the city of Chongqing.

Suining–Chongqing Railway

The Suining–Chongqing Railway connects the cities of Chongqing and Suining. Its designed operating speed is 200 km/h.

Dazhou–Chengdu Railway

The Dazhou–Chengdu Railway is a railway connecting the cities of Dazhou, Suining, and Chengdu. The Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu Passenger Dedicated Line uses only the section from Suining to Chengdu. Chengdu marks the western terminus of the line.

Route Summary

While some of the section of the HHR lines parallel existing "regular" railways, others have been, or are being, constructed over new ground, where, due to difficult terrain, no rail service existed before, or only existed on much more circuitous routes.

In particular, until the completion of the Shanghai–Nanjing Intercity Railway, passenger trains between Shanghai and Nanjing ran on the "conventional", but greatly upgraded, Jinghu railway; conventional railways likewise have long existed along fairly direct routes between Nanjing and Hefei, or between Chongqing and Chengdu.

Some trains using the line do not use the Shanghai–Nanjing Intercity Railway but use the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway.

On the other hand, the Hefei-Wuhan Railway, which involved a significant amount of tunneling when passing through the Dabie Mountains, allowed to significantly shorten the railway distance between Nanjing and Wuhan. The Yichang-Lichuan-Wanzhou and Lichuan-Chongqing sections are routed through the mountainous areas of the southwestern Hubei and the eastern section Chongqing Municipality, where no railways or reliable highways previously existed, providing a much more direct rail connection between the Sichuan Basin and Eastern China than previously existing ones (such as the one using the older Xiangyu Railway).