Rail transport in the People's Republic of China

Rail transport is the most commonly used mode of long-distance transportation in the People's Republic of China. Almost all rail operations are handled by the Ministry of Railways, which is part of the State Council of the People's Republic of China

State Council of the People's Republic of China

The State Council of the People's Republic of China , which is largely synonymous with the Central People's Government after 1954, is the chief administrative authority of the People's Republic of China. It is chaired by the Premier and includes the heads of each governmental department and agency...

. By the end of 2010, the operating rail network traverses the length and breadth of the country, covering a total length of 91000 km (56,545 mi), making only the rail networks in the United States and Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

larger in size. As of 2009, Chinese Railway owned about 603,082 wagons, 49,355 coaches and 18,922 locomotives and ran more than 38,000 trains daily, including about 3,500 passenger trains. The network today serves all provinces, with the exception of the special administrative region of Macau

Macau

Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

.

As of October 2008, the Chinese State Council approved a new CNY 2 trillion (US$ 292 billion) railway investment plan to take it up to 2020. The scheme extends China's previously announced railway building program, which was allocated CNY 1.25 trillion (US$ 182 billion) in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan for 2006 to 2010. As a result of the increased investment, the country's railway network has grown from 78,000 km at the end of 2007 to 91,000 km at the end of 2010, and is expected to grow to 110,000 km by the end of 2012. Growth in freight transport is thought to be one of the drivers behind the increased focus on rail, and the need to increase capacity to meet rising demand.

Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

era (1876–1911)

The first railroad to be built in China was the Woosung Railway in 1876, which was a 9 ¼-mile railway from Shanghai to Woosung

Wusong

Wusong,Chinese: s , t , p Wúsōng. formerly Woosung, was a port town located fourteen miles downriver from Shanghai.The Battle of Woosung occurred on 16 June 1842 between British and Chinese forces during the First Opium War. It was the site of China's first telegraph wires and first railroad, both...

(modern Shanghai's Baoshan District). The railway was dismantled only one year later by the Qing

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

governor. Until the defeat of China in the First Sino-Japanese War

First Sino-Japanese War

The First Sino-Japanese War was fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Japan, primarily over control of Korea...

, only very little development had been made. After the defeat, direct connection to the imperial capital Beijing was permitted: several lines were expanded towards the city, the three main lines being the Jinghan

Jingguang Railway

The Beijing–Guangzhou Railway or Jingguang Railway is a major arterial railway in the China that connects Beijing in the north with Guangzhou in the south. This dual-track electrified line has a total length of 2,324 kilometres and spans five provinces through north, central and south China...

, Jingfeng, and the Jinpu Railway

Jinpu railway

The Tianjin–Pukou or Jinpu Railway runs from Tianjin to Pukou outside Nanjing in Jiangsu province.In September 1898 at a conference in London, British and German capitalists decided to build a railway from Tianjin to Zhenjiang. In May 1899, the Qing government agreed to the financing of the...

s, which today are still some of the busiest lines in China.

By 1911, there were around 9000 km of tracks in China. However, many railways were designed, constructed, or even owned by foreign companies. The first indigenously designed and constructed railway by Chinese is the Jingzhang railway

Jingbao railway

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

built from 1905 to 1909, a difficult job due to the mountainous terrain. The chief engineer of this railway was Zhan Tianyou

Zhan Tianyou

Jeme Tien Yow was a distinguished Chinese railroad engineer. Educated in the United States of America, he was the chief engineer responsible for construction of the Imperial Peking-Kalgan Railway , the first railway constructed in China without foreign assistance.-Biography:Jeme was born in...

, who is known as the Father of China's Railway.

Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...

era (1912–1949)

During the Republic of China

Republic of China

The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...

era from 1912 until 1949, the development of the railway network in China was slowed down. This was due to repeated civil wars and the invasion of Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War

Second Sino-Japanese War

The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...

. One of the few exceptions was in Northeastern China (Manchuria

Manchuria

Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...

). During the reign of the Fengtian warlord

Fengtian clique

The Fengtian Clique was one of several mutually hostile cliques or factions that split from the Beiyang Clique in the Republic of China's warlord era. It was named for Fengtian Province and led by Zhang Zuolin...

from 1912 till 1931, several railway lines were built. The South Manchuria Railway Company

South Manchuria Railway

The , and operated within China in the Japanese-controlled South Manchuria Railway Zone. The railway itself ran from Lüshun Port at the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula to Harbin, where it connected to the Chinese Eastern Railway.-History:...

by Japanese was founded in 1906 and after the Russo-Japanese War

Russo-Japanese War

The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...

(1904–1905), Japan took over the operation of the Chinese Far East Railway

Chinese Eastern Railway

The Chinese Eastern Railway or was a railway in northeastern China . It connected Chita and the Russian Far East. English-speakers have sometimes referred to this line as the Manchurian Railway...

at Changchun

Changchun

Changchun is the capital and largest city of Jilin province, located in the northeast of the People's Republic of China, in the center of the Songliao Plain. It is administered as a sub-provincial city with a population of 7,677,089 at the 2010 census under its jurisdiction, including counties and...

city and southward and kept development going vigorously. In 1945, just after the Second Sino-Japanese War, there were 27,000 km of rail, nearly half of which, 13,000 km, was located in Manchuria.

People's Republic of China era (1949–)

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the new government under Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...

invested heavily in the railway network. From the 1950s to the 70s, lines, especially those in western China, were expanded. One example is the 1900 km railway from Lanzhou to Urumqi

Lanxin railway

The Lanzhou−Xinjiang Railway or Lanxin Railway is the longest railway in northwestern China. It runs from Lanzhou, Gansu, through the Hexi Corridor, to Ürümqi, in the Xinjiang. It is Xinjiang's only rail link with the rest of China...

, which was built between 1952 and 1962. In Southwestern China, where difficult terrain prevails, several mountain railways were constructed, such as the Baoji-Chengdu Railway

Baoji-Chengdu Railway

The Baoji–Chengdu Railway or Baocheng Railway , is a mixed single- and double-track, electrified, railroad that connects central and southwest China between Baoji and Chengdu. The line has a total length of 668.2 km and passes through mostly mountainous terrain in Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan...

, built in the 1950s, and the Chengkun Railway, built in the 1970s. The railway to Xizang (Tibet), the Qingzang railway

Qingzang railway

The Qinghai–Xizang railway, Qingzang railway, or Qinghai–Tibet railway , is a high-elevation railway that connects Xining, Qinghai Province, to Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, in People's Republic of China....

, was one of the most difficult to build; the line was finally completed and opened to the public in 2006. Today, every province-level entity of the People's Republic, with the exception of Macau

Macau

Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

, is connected to the railway network.

Not only has the Chinese railway network expanded in size since 1949, but it has also seen great technological advances. Before the 1980s, most of the railways were powered by steam, due to low labour costs and cheap coal prices. However, the first diesel locomotive, the Dongfeng, was introduced in 1959. During the 1980s and 90s, diesel

Diesel locomotive

A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...

and electric locomotives gradually replaced the steam engines on main lines. However, steam locomotives didn't retire from some provincial railways until the 21st century. In December 2005, the world's last regular revenue mainline steam train finished its journey on the Jitong railway

Jitong railway

Jitong railway is a railway in Inner Mongolia, China opened in 1995. Its start point is at Jining and ends at Tongliao. The Jitong railway is a joint venture between China Railways and the government of Inner Mongolia....

, marking the end of the steam era. Nevertheless, there are still some steam locomotives used in the industrial railways in China.

From 1990 to 2001, on average some 1,092 km of new railways, 837 km of multiple-track, and 962 km of electrified railways were opened to traffic annually, 2.4-fold, 1.7-fold and 1.8-fold increases respectively over the previous 10 years. At the end of 2004, railways in operation reached 74,200 km, including 24,100 km of multiple track and 18,900 km of electrified railways. On a global basis, China's rail transport volume is one of the world's largest, having six percent of the world's operating railways, and carrying 25 percent of the world's total railway workload. China also leads in terms of the growth rate of transport volume and use of transport equipment.

Since 1997, train speed has been raised significantly six times. The top speed of express trains increased from 120 km to 200 km per hour, and passenger trains can reach maximum speed of 350 km per hour on some sections of the arterial railways.

Current network

China maintains about twenty principal domestic railway routes with a total length of 91,000 km by the end of 2010.
As of 2007:
Total: 78,000 km(network length). The total track length is 154,600km.

Standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...

: 79,685 km gauge (2008)
Metre gauge
Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...

: 466 km (Yunnan-Vietnam Railway
Yunnan-Vietnam Railway
The Yunnan–Vietnam Railway is a 855 km railway built by France during 1904-1910, connecting Haiphong, Vietnam with Kunming, Yunnan province, China. The section within China from Kunming to Hekou is known as the Kunming-Hekou Railway, and is 466 km long. The section within Vietnam...

)
Narrow gauge: 3,600 km gauge local industrial lines (1998 est.)
Electrified: 27,500 km, 34.5% electrified (2008)
Double track
Double track
A double track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.- Overview :...

: 29,000 km (not included in total) (2008)

Main lines

Main article: List of railways in China

Jingha Railway
Jinghu Railway
Jinghu railway
The Beijing–Shanghai Railway or Jinghu railway is a railway line in China between Beijing and Shanghai. 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...
Jingguang Railway
Jingguang Railway
The Beijing–Guangzhou Railway or Jingguang Railway is a major arterial railway in the China that connects Beijing in the north with Guangzhou in the south. This dual-track electrified line has a total length of 2,324 kilometres and spans five provinces through north, central and south China...
Jingjiu Railway
Jingjiu Railway
The Beijing-Jiujiang-Kowloon Railway, also known as the Beijing-Jiujiang-Kowloon Railway or Jingjiu Railway) is a railway in the China connecting Beijing West Station in Beijing to Shenzhen Station in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province...
Jingbao Railway
Jingbao railway
The Beijing-Baotou Railway or Jingbao Railway is a 833 km railway from Beijing to Baotou, Inner Mongolia in China. It is a very important route in northwestern China....
Longhai Railway
Lanxin Railway
Lanxin railway
The Lanzhou−Xinjiang Railway or Lanxin Railway is the longest railway in northwestern China. It runs from Lanzhou, Gansu, through the Hexi Corridor, to Ürümqi, in the Xinjiang. It is Xinjiang's only rail link with the rest of China...
Qingzang Railway
Qingzang railway
The Qinghai–Xizang railway, Qingzang railway, or Qinghai–Tibet railway , is a high-elevation railway that connects Xining, Qinghai Province, to Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, in People's Republic of China....

Railway management

There are three levels of management in the national railway system of China

Ministry of Railways, part of the State Council of the People's Republic of China
State Council of the People's Republic of China
The State Council of the People's Republic of China , which is largely synonymous with the Central People's Government after 1954, is the chief administrative authority of the People's Republic of China. It is chaired by the Premier and includes the heads of each governmental department and agency...
Railway Bureaus or Railway Group Companies
Railway Stations

There are sixteen Railway Bureaus and two Railway Group Companies under the Minister of Railways.

There are also some local railway lines operated by local state-owned companies. The only private-owned railway line in mainland China is Luoding Railway

Luoding Railway

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

in Guangdong Province.

Railway bureaus

Beijing Railway Bureau
Beijing Railway Bureau
Beijing Railway Bureau is a regional railway bureau under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Railway of the People's Republic of China. It supervises the railway network within Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Provinces. The Beijing Railway Bureau also operates and supervises the expansion of the Beijing...
Chengdu Railway Bureau
Chengdu Railway Bureau
Chengdu Railway Bureau is a regional bureau affiliated to the Ministry of Railways of the People's Republic of China. It is in charge of 9 primary railway routes, with operating length of 4,457.8 kilometers. It oversees the railway networks in Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, although the portion of...
Guangzhou Railway Group Co. Ltd.
Harbin Railway Bureau
Hohhot Railway Bureau
Jinan Railway Bureau
Jinan Railway Bureau
Jinan Railway Bureau is a railway bureau under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Railways of the People's Republic of China. It supervises the railway network within Shandong Province. It is in charge of the railway with total length of 8,283.9 kilometers, and consists of 295 railway stations....
Kunming Railway Bureau
Lanzhou Railway Bureau
Nanchang Railway Bureau
Nanning Railway Bureau
Qinghai-Tibet Railway Group Co., Ltd.
Shanghai Railway Bureau
Shanghai Railway Bureau
Shanghai Railway Bureau is a regional bureau affiliated to the Ministry of Railways of the People's Republic of China. As of 2007, the bureau is in charge of a total length of 10,810.5 kilometers, and commercial length of 4,928.1 kilometers of railways. It oversees 503 stations and manages the...
Shenyang Railway Bureau
Taiyuan Railway Bureau
Wulumuqi (Ürümqi) Railway Bureau
Wuhan Railway Bureau
Xi'an Railway Bureau
Zhengzhou Railway Bureau
Zhengzhou Railway Bureau
Zhengzhou Railway Bureau is a regional railway bureau under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Railway of the People's Republic of China. It is in charge of the railways in Henan Province. Before the reform of national railway bureaus in March 2005, it also controlled railways in Hubei, south Shaanxi...

Locomotives

The two main categories of conventional Chinese locomotives are the Dongfeng diesel locomotives and the Shaoshan electric locomotives. In the first decade of the 21st century the railways of china began to import and produce AC-DC-AC transmission electric locomotives; the most numerous of these are the HXD series "Harmony" locomotives for freight work, of which over 3000 were ordered. Most modern trains, for example for the China Railway High-Speed

China Railway High-speed

China Railway High-speed ; ) is the high-speed rail system operated by China Railways.Hexie Hao is the designation for high-speed trains running on this rail system. At the middle of the run, all trains were marked "CRH" on the centre of the head vehicle and the side of the walls of each vehicle...

service, are either imported or produced in China using technology transfer agreements.

Train speed limits

China has increased the allowed top speed for trains six times: in April 1997, October 1998, October 2000, November 2001, April 2004, and April 18, 2007. In the 1997 speedup, the top speed of passenger trains on some of the main lines was increased to 140 km/h. During the following speedups top speeds were increased to 160 km/h on some lines and up to 250 km/h. During the 2007 speedup, the top speeds reached 200 km/h on 6,003 km tracks of main lines such as Jinghu Railway

Jinghu railway

The Beijing–Shanghai Railway or Jinghu railway is a railway line in China between Beijing and Shanghai. 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...

, Jingha Railway, and Jingguang Railway

Jingguang Railway

.
On 848 km tracks the top speeds reached 250 km/h, most of which were on the Qinshen Passenger Railway.Another 14,000 km tracks had a top speed limit of 160 km/h and an extra 22,000 km tracks had a 120 km/h limit. In addition, during this speedup, the heavy-haul freight transportation speed limit was also boosted to 120 km/h. This speedup was expected to boost passenger and cargo capacity by 18 percent and 12 percent respectively. The newly built Beijing-Tianjin high-speed rail has a top speed of 350 km/h.

Passenger transport

Rail is one of the principal means of transport in China, with over 1.3 billion railway trips taken in 2007 and 1.4 billion estimated for 2008. The Spring Festival Travel Season

Chunyun

Chunyun, , also referred to as Spring Festival travel season, or Chunyun period, is a period of travel in China with extremely high traffic load around the time of the Chinese New Year. The period usually begins 15 days before the Lunar New Year's Day and lasts for around 40 days...

is the peak railway travel season of the year. In 2008, 1.456 billion people travelled 772.8 billion km by rail.

Holidays

During the three weeklong holidays in China, known as "Golden Week"

Golden Week (China)

Golden Week in the mainland of the People's Republic of China is the name given to two annual 7-day national holidays, implemented in 2000:* The "Spring Festival Golden Week" begins in January or February....

, demand for tickets increases dramatically due to many migrant workers returning home and others using the time to travel the country. The holidays are the week starting May 1 and October 1 and the week around Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year – often called Chinese Lunar New Year although it actually is lunisolar – is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is an all East and South-East-Asia celebration...

, also known as the Chunyun

Chunyun

season.

Even though the duration of the May holidays was shortened in 2009, the holiday traffic remained strong, with the record of 6.54 million passengers carried over the Chinese rail network on May 1, 2009.

Chinese New Year

Every year before, during and after the Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year

, Chinese railway operate the Chunyun
Chunyun
Chunyun, , also referred to as Spring Festival travel season, or Chunyun period, is a period of travel in China with extremely high traffic load around the time of the Chinese New Year. The period usually begins 15 days before the Lunar New Year's Day and lasts for around 40 days...

period – increased services on most lines for the increased demand due to the holidays. Since railway transport is the cheapest method for long distance travellers in China, the railway is the most important transport method during the Chunyun period. For example, during the 40 days of the 2007 Chunyun period, it is estimated that 156 million passengers used trains. This translates to an average of 3.9 million passengers a day. However, the average daily capacity of the Chinese railway system is 2.4 million. To make the situation even worse, traffic is highly imbalanced: before the Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year

, passengers mainly travel from eastern provinces to western provinces. After the holiday, traffic reverses. Although hundreds of temporary trains

L-series

The L-series trains are temporary trains run by railway bureaus of the People's Republic of China at times when they are thought to be necessary, such as the Chunyun period....

are operated, train tickets are still in short supply. Trains are very crowded during this period, for example; a passenger car with 118 seats may accommodate more than 200 people.

Cross-border services

Passenger train services are available to destinations in:

Kazakhstan, Mongolia
Rail transport in Mongolia
Rail transport in Mongolia is an important means of travel in the landlocked nation with few paved roads. According to official statistics, rail transport carried 93% of Mongolian freight and 43% of passenger turnover in 2007. The Mongolian rail system employs 12,500 people. The national operator...

, and Russia
Rail transport in Russia
The Russian railways are one of the economic wonders of the 19th, 20th, and 21st century world. In length of track they are second globally to the railways of the United States. In volume of freight hauled, they are third behind the United States and China, using the standard measure of...

. These countries use gauge, so there is a break-of-gauge
Break-of-gauge
With railways, a break-of-gauge occurs where a line of one gauge meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock cannot run through without some form of conversion between gauges, and freight and passengers must otherwise be transloaded...

.
Hong Kong SAR
Rail transport in Hong Kong
Hong Kong's rail network comprises public transport trains operated by MTR Corporation Limited . The MTRC operates the metro network of Hong Kong and the commuter rail network connecting the northeastern and northwestern New Territories with the rest of Hong Kong...

and North Korea
Rail transport in North Korea
Rail transport in North Korea is provided by Korean State Railway which is the only rail operator in North Korea. It has a network of 5,200 km of track with 4,500 km in Standard gauge. There is a small narrow gauge railway in operation in Haeju peninsula...

. These use standard gauge.
Vietnam
Rail transport in Vietnam
The railway system in Vietnam is owned and operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways . The principal route, the single track North-South Railway running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, accounts for of the network's total length of...

, which uses , so there is a break of gauge at Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...

.

Hong Kong

Train services to Hong Kong terminate at the Hung Hom Station

Hung Hom (KCR)

Hung Hom Station, formerly known as Kowloon Station is a station on the East Rail Line and West Rail Line in Hong Kong. It is located in Yau Tsim Mong District, Kowloon, next to the Cross Harbour Tunnel...

in Kowloon

Kowloon

Kowloon is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It is bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait in the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Stonecutter's Island in the west, Tate's Cairn and Lion Rock in the north, and Victoria Harbour in the south. It had a population of...

. Within Hong Kong the cross-boundary services use the tracks of the East Rail Line. There are three through-train routes, Beijing line

Beijing-Kowloon Through Train

The Beijing-Kowloon Through Train is an intercity railway service between Hung Hom Station in Hong Kong and the Beijing West Railway Station, jointly operated by the MTR of Hong Kong and China's national rail service. The train runs to Beijing and Hong Kong every other day...

(to/from Beijing

Beijing railway station

Beijing Railway Station is one of Beijing's railway stations, opened in the 1950s, as can be seen from its architecture . It is located in the city's central location, just next to Jianguomen, and is within the confines of the city's 2nd Ring Road...

), Shanghai line

Shanghai-Kowloon Through Train

The Shanghai-Kowloon Through Train is an intercity railway service between Kowloon Station in Hong Kong and the Shanghai Railway Station, jointly operated by the MTR of Hong Kong and China's national rail service. The numbers of this train service is T99B and T100B...

(to/from Shanghai) and Guangdong line (to/from Zhaoqing

Zhaoqing

Zhaoqing is a prefecture-level city of Guangdong province in southern China.-Geography:Zhaoqing is located 110 km northwest of Guangzhou, in the west Pearl River Delta. It lies on the north shores of the Xijiang River, which is flows from west to east, and opposite of Gaoyao...

and Guangzhou East

Guangzhou East railway station

Guangzhou East Railway Station serves the city of Guangzhou, China. It is located in Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China....

). Another express train service

Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link

The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link Hong Kong Section is a proposed high speed railway connecting Kowloon with the high-speed rail network of China at Shenzhen...

linking Hong Kong and Guangzhou with intermediary stop in Shenzhen has been approved and construction in the China section has commenced. This new express rail line will reduce the train travel time between Hong Kong and Guangzhou from 2 hours to 1 hour.

Kazakshtan

China's Lanxin Railway

Lanxin railway

connects with the Kazakhstan railway system

Qazaqstan Temir Zholy

Kazakhstan Temir Zholy , also National Company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, is the national railway company of Kazakhstan.-Organization:...

at Alashankou

Alashankou

Alashankou or Alataw Pass is a border town in Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. It is a port of entry by both railroad and highway from Kazakhstan as part of the Eurasian Land Bridge. The town is named after the Dzungarian Gate , a pass connecting...

since ca. 1990. There are two weekly passenger trains (one Kazakh and one Chinese) from Almaty to Urumqi in Western China. There are differing reports on which of the two is more comfortable, however the Chinese train is generally of a higher standard than the Kazakh train.
See Alashankou

Alashankou

.

A new electric railway line from Jinghe on the main Lanxin line via Ghulja (Yining) to Khorgos

Khorgos

Khorgas , also known as Huoerguosi, Huocheng, Khorgos, Chorgos and Gorgos, is a Chinese town near the border with Kazakhstan. It is located in Huocheng County in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjiang Autonomous Region...

near the Kazakh border was completed in the late 2009.
(The passenger service, started on July 1, 2010, only operates to Ghulja, though.)
On the Kazakh side, work has started to connect Khorgos

Khorgos

to Zhetigen

Zhetigen

Zhetigen or Zhetygen is a small town in Almaty Province of Kazakhstan. It is located some 50 km north of Almaty, on the Turksib rail line.- Accident :...

(on the Turksib line north of Almaty). When completed, this will provide the second railway connection between China and Kazakhstan, and a more direct railway from Urumqi to Almaty.

Proposed high-speed links to Europe and South-East Asia

China is in negotiations to build a continent-spanning high-speed rail network with destinations as far away as London and Germany, within the next ten years. Chinese railway consultant from China's Academy of Engineering; Wang Mengshu, said the 8157 km (5,068.5 mi) journey (from Beijing to London) would take just two days to complete, traveling at speeds of up to 345 km/h (215 mph). Mr Wang said that China was already in negotiations with 17 countries over the rail lines, which will draw together and open up the whole of Central, East and South East Asia. Mr Wang said the network would also allow China to transport valuable cargoes of raw materials more efficiently.

Mr Wang said; "We have also already carried out the prospecting and survey work for the European network, and Central and Eastern European countries are keen for us to start," Mr Wang said. "The Northern network will be the third one to start, although China and Russia have already agreed on a high-speed line across Siberia, where one million Chinese already live."
A second project would see trains heading north through Russia to Germany and into the European railway system, and a third line will extend south to connect Vietnam, Thailand, Burma and Malaysia.

Proposed link to Laos

In 2011, construction is expected to begin on a railway from Kunming

Kunming

' is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It was known as Yunnan-Fou until the 1920s. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of Yunnan, and is the seat of the provincial government...

to Laos.

Proposed link to Macau

Macau SAR is the only province-level division of China that has no railway. An extension of the Guangzhou Railway to Cotai

Cotai

Cotai is a 5.2 km2 piece of newly reclaimed land between Taipa and Coloane islands in Macau, that has not yet been assigned to any of the freguesias. The Chinese and Portuguese names are a portmanteau of the two islands, Coloane and Taipa....

through Hengqin Island

Hengqin

Hengqin Dao is an island in Zhuhai, a prefecture-level city and Special Economic Zone in the Guangdong province of the People's Republic of China...

has been proposed.

Mongolia

Train services to Mongolia

Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...

terminate in Ulan Bator. China's rail network connects with Mongolia railways

Trans-Mongolian Railway

The Trans-Mongolian Railway connects Ulan-Ude, on the Trans-Baikal railway in Russia, with the Chinese city of Jining, by way of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia....

in Erenhot

Erenhot

Erenhot is a city located in the Gobi Desert, in the Xilin Gol league of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China . It has 16,330 inhabitants and the elevation is...

in China and Dzamyn Ude in Mongolia. Nowadays, there are two trains every week departing from Beijing and Hohhot

Hohhot

Hohhot , is a city in north-central China and the capital of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, serving as the region's administrative, economic, and cultural centre....

. Moreover, there are five times of train service between Ulan Bator and Erenhot

Erenhot

Erenhot is a city located in the Gobi Desert, in the Xilin Gol league of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China . It has 16,330 inhabitants and the elevation is...

every week. As same as links to Russia, the international trains need to change bogies

Bogie exchange

Bogie exchange is a system for operating railway wagons on two or more gauges to overcome difference in the track gauge. To perform a bogie exchange, a car is converted from one gauge to another by removing the chassis containing the wheels and axles of the car, and installing a new chassis with...

in Erenhot, since Mongolia uses broad gauge

Russian gauge

In railway terminology, Russian gauge refers to railway track with a gauge between 1,520 mm and . In a narrow sense as defined by Russian Railways it refers to gauge....

.

There are two weekly trains from Beijing to Mongolia, one of which continues to Moscow.

Proposed link to Myanmar

There are also tentative plans to build a 1920 km railway to Yangôn

Yangon

Yangon is a former capital of Burma and the capital of Yangon Region . Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial...

in Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

; this may be linked to a deepwater port at Dawei

Dawei

-Transport:Only recently Dawei was connected to the rest of Myanmar by road and rail. There are plans to construct a deepwater port in Dawei. In November 2010, the Myanmar Port Authority signed a USD $8.6 billion deal with Italian-Thai Development to develop a deep sea port at Dawei...

North Korea

There are 4 weekly trains with Hard and Soft Sleeper from Beijing to Pyongyang in North Korea. There is also a once weekly carriage attached to the Vostok train from Moscow to North Korea via Harbin and Shenyang in China.

Russia

For a long time, China's rail network has directly connected with Russian railways at two points: Manzhouli

Manzhouli

- Administration :Manzhouli is divided into ten subdistricts and one town. Six of the subdistricts of Manzhouli are grouped into a district. Technically however, only a prefecture-level city can have districts, so Manzhouli's lone district is not officially listed.- History :In ancient times the...

and Suifenhe

Suifenhe

Suifenhe , is a city in southeastern Heilongjiang province, Northeast China, located situated where the former Chinese Eastern Railway crosses the border with Russia's Primorsky Krai.The city shares its name with the Suifen River....

. These connections exist since the construction of the Transsiberian Railway in the early 1900s, since the earliest Transsiberian route took a shortcut through China's Manchuria

Manchuria

along what was known as the China Eastern Railway. The former is used by a large amount of freight and by one of the Beijing-Moscow trains (there is also an alternative route via Mongolia

Mongolia

), while the latter is used by a service to Russia's Primorsky Krai

Primorsky Krai

Primorsky Krai , informally known as Primorye , is a federal subject of Russia . Primorsky means "maritime" in Russian, hence the region is sometimes referred to as Maritime Province or Maritime Territory. Its administrative center is in the city of Vladivostok...

. As of November 2008, there was no direct passenger service from e.g. Harbin

Harbin

Harbin ; Manchu language: , Harbin; Russian: Харби́н Kharbin ), is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China, lying on the southern bank of the Songhua River...

to Vladivostok

Vladivostok

The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...

, but one could travel along this route with transfers in Suifenhe

Suifenhe

, Grodekovo, and Ussuriysk

Ussuriysk

Ussuriysk is a city in Primorsky Krai, Russia, located in the fertile valley of the Razdolnaya River, north of Vladivostok and about from both the Chinese border and the Pacific Ocean. Population: -Medieval history:...

.

The third, little known and even less used, rail connection between the two countries was built farther south, between
Hunchun

Hunchun

Hunchun is a county-level city in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, far eastern Jilin province, Northeast China. It borders North Korea and Russia , has over 250,000 inhabitants, and streching on a 5,145 square-kilometer...

and Russian Makhalino (a station on the Ussuriysk

Ussuriysk

-Khasan-North Korean border line, 41 km before Khasan). It began operating in February 2000, and saw only a minor amount of traffic (678 railcars of lumber) over the next two years. The line was closed in 2002–2003, reopened in 2003, but, as of the summer of 2004, it was still reported as seeing little traffic.

In November 2008, the transport ministries of Russia and the China signed an agreement about creating one more link between the railway systems of the two countries. It will involve a railway bridge

Amur Bridge Project

The Amur Bridge Project was announced in 2007 by Valery Solomonovich Gurevich, the vice-chairman of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. He stated that China and Russia might start construction of the first railway bridge over the Amur River at the end of 2007...

between across the Heilongjiang (Amur) River, connecting Tongjiang in China's Jiamusi

Jiamusi

Jiamusi is a prefecture-level city in the province of Heilongjiang, in the People's Republic of China. Located on the riverside of the middle and lower reaches of the Songhua River, It faces Russia across the Ussuri River and the Heilongjiang River...

prefecture with Nizhneleninskoye

Nizhneleninskoye

Nizhneleninskoye is a village in Leninsky District of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. Located on the Amur River, Nizhneleninskoye is the location for the Amur Bridge Project which will cross over the river to China. Nizhneleninskoye will be joined by a railway bridge to Tongjiang in Heilongjiang...

, a village in Russia's Jewish Autonomous Oblast

Jewish Autonomous Oblast

The Jewish Autonomous Oblast is a federal subject of Russia situated in the Russian Far East, bordering Khabarovsk Krai and Amur Oblast of Russia and Heilongjiang province of China. Its administrative center is the town of Birobidzhan....

. At that point, the construction work was expected to start in 2009 and to be completed in 2011.

Currently there are two weekly trains in each direction between Beijing and Moscow: trains no. 3/4 including Chinese 2 berth deluxe soft sleeper running via Mongolia, and no. 19/20 running via Manzhouli and Harbin.

Vietnam

Nanning-Hanoi link

There are twice weekly trains from Beijing to Hanoi

Hanoi

Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...

in Vietnam. The trains consist of a typical T style Chinese express from Beijing to Dong Dang (Đồng Đăng, in Lang Son Province

Lạng Sơn Province

Lạng Sơn is a province in far northern Vietnam, bordering Guangxi province in China. Its capital is also called Lang Son, which is a strategically important town at the border with China and is northeast of Hanoi connected by rail and road...

) on the Vietnamese border. The train may require passengers to detrain in Nanning

Nanning

Nanning is the capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. It is known as the "Green City" because of its abundance of lush tropical foliage.-History:...

for 5 hours (especially on the north bound service) however a lounge area with reclining chairs is available for Soft Sleeper passengers.

Customs are cleared in Dong Dang station.

Yunnan–Vietnam Railway
The narrow-gauge Yunnan–Vietnam Railway runs from Kunming

Kunming

to Hekou

Hekou

Hekou may refer to the following in China:*Hekou District , Dongying, Shandong*Hekou Group, geological formation in Gansu*Hekou Yao Autonomous County , of Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan...

on the Vietnamese border, and continue on the Vietnamese side to Hanoi. There has been no passenger service on this line since some time after 2000.

Planned new link in western Guangxi

In 2010, a 72-km single-track electrified rail branch was completed from Tiandong

Tiandong County

Tiandong County is a county of Guangxi, China. It is under the administration of Baise city....

on the Nanning -Kunming railway to Debao

Debao County

Debao County is a county of Guangxi, China. It is under the administration of Baise city.-Economy:Boxite mining is a major industry in Debao County. To facilitate the transportation of the ore, a 72-km single-track electrified railway branch was completed in 2010, connecting Debao with Tiandong on...

, to the southwest. Construction was started on extending this branch from Debao further southwest, to Jingxi

Jingxi County

Jingxi County is a county of Guangxi, China. It is under the administration of Baise city....

,
with plans to eventually extend it all the way to the Longbang

Longbang

Longbang Town is a town in Jingxi County, Guangxi Province of China. It is located near China's border with Vietnam, opposite the Trà Lĩnh District on Vietnamese side.-Border crossing:...

border crossing on the Vietnamese border.

Proposed rail link to India

Indian Railways

Indian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....

and rail authorities in China are interested in constructing a high-speed rail link that would link New Delhi with Kunming

Kunming

, China via Myanmar

Myanmar

Potential link of Qinghai-Tibet railway to India

As India has been extending its railway near the Nathu La

Nathu La

Nathu La is a mountain pass in the Himalayas. It connects the Indian state of Sikkim with China's Tibet Autonomous Region. The pass, at 4,310 m above mean sea level, forms a part of an offshoot of the ancient Silk Road. Nathu means "listening ears" and La means "pass" in Tibetan...

pass with China, and China has plans to extend the Qinghai-Tibet railway to near its border with Nathu La, a petition was set up to promote the idea that both countries could link up their respective proportions for direct train services between the two countries. As of September 6, 2011, the petition had 81 members..

High-speed rail

High-speed rail services were introduced in 2007 and are operated using CRH

China Railway High-speed

trains. These run on existing lines that have been upgraded to speeds of up to 250km/h and on dedicated high speed track up to 350 km/h.

Conventional railways

350 km/h railways

Beijing-Tianjin high-speed rail

200 km/h railways

Total 6003 km as of April 2007.

Qinshen Passenger Railway, some sections with a top speed of 250 km/h
Jiaoji Railway
Jiaoji railway
The Jiaozhou–Jinan Railway or Jiaoji Railway is railway in Shandong Province, China. The railway is 440.7km in length and connects Qingdao, on the Jiaozhou Bay, and Jinan, the provincial capital of Shandong...
Most of Zhegan Railway
Part of Guangshen railway
Part of Jinghu railway
Jinghu railway
The Beijing–Shanghai Railway or Jinghu railway is a railway line in China between Beijing and Shanghai. 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...
Part of Jingguang railway
Jingguang Railway
The Beijing–Guangzhou Railway or Jingguang Railway is a major arterial railway in the China that connects Beijing in the north with Guangzhou in the south. This dual-track electrified line has a total length of 2,324 kilometres and spans five provinces through north, central and south China...
Part of Longhai Railway, from Zhengzhou
Zhengzhou
Zhengzhou , is the capital and largest city of Henan province in north-central China. A prefecture-level city, it also serves as the political, economic, technological, and educational centre of the province, as well as a major transportation hub for Central China...

to Xuzhou
Xuzhou
Xuzhou , otherwise known as Pengcheng in ancient times, is a major city in and the fourth largest prefecture-level city of Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China...

Rolling stocks

China Railway High-speed
China Railway High-speed
China Railway High-speed ; ) is the high-speed rail system operated by China Railways.Hexie Hao is the designation for high-speed trains running on this rail system. At the middle of the run, all trains were marked "CRH" on the centre of the head vehicle and the side of the walls of each vehicle...

(CRH): CRH1, CRH2, CRH3, CRH5
X 2000
X 2000
X 2000 is the brand name of Sweden's tilting 200 km/h high-speed train class X2, which was constructed by Kalmar Verkstad in Kalmar, Sweden and operated by SJ. It was launched in 1990 as a first-class only train with a meal included in the ticket price, and free use of the train's fax machine...
Blue Arrow
China Star
China Star
China Star is an indigenously designed experimental high-speed train manufactured in China. It is a push-pull train developed from the DJJ1 "Blue Arrow" high speed train by Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Works. It consists of 2 locomotives and 9 passenger cars. The prototype rolled out in 2002...

Sleeper trains

There are generally three classes of sleeper compartments in China:

Soft sleeper – offered in a lockable compartment that has four sleeping berths, two lower ones and two upper berths which can be folded up to allow for seating in the lower berths.
Hard sleeper – are provided in an open carriage consisting of a wide aisle on one side and bays of six sleeping berths on the other arranged on three levels. Hard sleepers are generally cheaper than soft sleepers.
Deluxe soft sleeper – are offered as a two berth compartment with a private toilet. Only a few services in China such as the Beijing-Hong Kong through train
Beijing-Kowloon Through Train
The Beijing-Kowloon Through Train is an intercity railway service between Hung Hom Station in Hong Kong and the Beijing West Railway Station, jointly operated by the MTR of Hong Kong and China's national rail service. The train runs to Beijing and Hong Kong every other day...

offer this option.

External links

Ministry of Railways Chinese Railways Shanghai Maglev Transrapid China Train Guide

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Qing DynastyQing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China.... era (1876–1911)

People's Republic of China era (1949–)

Current network

Main lines

Railway management

Railway bureaus

Locomotives

Train speed limits

Passenger transport

Holidays

Chinese New Year

Cross-border services

Hong Kong

Kazakshtan

Proposed high-speed links to Europe and South-East Asia

Proposed link to Laos

Proposed link to Macau

Mongolia

Proposed link to Myanmar

North Korea

Russia

Vietnam

Proposed rail link to India

Potential link of Qinghai-Tibet railway to India

High-speed rail

Conventional railways

Sleeper trains

See also

External links

Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

era (1876–1911)