The Xiangyang-Chongqing Railway or Xiangyu Railway (襄渝铁路), also known as the Xiangfan-Chongqing Railway and Xiangyu Line (襄渝线), is a single-track electrified railroad in central China between the cities of Xiangyang

Xiangyang

Xiangzhou District is a district of Xiangyang, Hubei, China. The district itself was formerly known as Xiangyang. It was a city famous for the Siege of Xiangyang by invading forces of the Mongol-founded Yuan Dynasty...

, formerly known as Xiangfan

Xiangfan

Xiangyang is a prefecture-level city in Hubei Province of the People's Republic of China. It was formed from two famous ancient cities, Xiangyang and Fancheng...

, and Chongqing

Chongqing

Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...

. The short form name for Chongqing is Yu (渝) and the railway is named after the two cities. It has a total length of 895.3 km and passes through Hubei

Hubei

' Hupeh) is a province in Central China. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Lake Dongting...

, Shaanxi

Shaanxi

' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...

 and Sichuan

Sichuan

' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...

 province, and Chongqing municipality. Major cities along route include Shiyan

Shiyan

Shiyan is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hubei province, People's Republic of China.-Geography:The Wudang Mountains run approximately east-west through the territory of the "Prefecture-level city" of Shiyan, crossing several of its county-level divisions...

, Ankang

Ankang

Ankang is a city in Shaanxi province, China.- Geography :Ankang is geographically considered to be part of southern China. However, on administrative terms, as Shaanxi is officially part of Northwestern China, it is considered to be part of the Northwest....

, Dazhou and Guang'an

Guang'an

Guang'an is a prefecture-level city in eastern Sichuan province. It is most famous as the birthplace of China's former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. Guang'an lies between the hills of central Sichuan and the gorges area of the east...

.

The Xiangyu Railway is a major transportation route that connects the Sichuan Basin

Sichuan basin

The Sichuan Basin is a lowland region in southwestern China. Despite its historical name, it is not only synonymous to Sichuan province, comprising its central and eastern portions as well as part of Chongqing Municipality...

 with the Central Plains

Central Plain (China)

Zhongyuan or the Central Plain of China refers to the area on the lower reaches of the Yellow River which formed the cradle of Chinese civilization. It forms part of the North China Plain....

. It was built from 1964 to 1979, and electrified in three phases from 1980 to 1998. Trains running on the Xiangyu Line can reach top speeds of 100-120 km/h. Construction of a second track began in 2005 and was completed in 2009.

Second Xiangyu Line

The Second Xiangfan-Chongqing Railway (襄渝二线) is a dual-track electrified railroad line that runs parallel to the Xiangyu Line. This line is only 507 km in length and connects the same cities as the original Xiangyu line. It takes a more direct route through the mountainous terrain with bridges and tunnels, and accommodates faster trains (up to 160 km/h) and a greater carrying capacity. Construction began on August 13, 2005. and was scheduled to be completed by July 2008, but work was slowed by difficulties in bridge and tunnel work which pushed the project 30% over budget. The New Iron Mountain Tunnel (新铁山隧道), 3,347 m length, was completed on April 20, 2007 after 20 months of difficult work, overcoming interior rockslides and carbon monoxide build-up inside the tunnel.

The Second Xiangyu Line opened on October 31, 2009.

Rail junctions

• Xiangyang
  Xiangyang
  Xiangzhou District is a district of Xiangyang, Hubei, China. The district itself was formerly known as Xiangyang. It was a city famous for the Siege of Xiangyang by invading forces of the Mongol-founded Yuan Dynasty...
  
  : Jiaozuo-Liuzhou Railway
• Chongqing
  Chongqing
  Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...
  
  : Chengdu–Chongqing Railway, Chongqing–Huaihua Railway

Painting of the Xiangyu Line

The Xiangyu Line is the subject of an enormous landscape scroll painting that is 1.6 m wide and 128 m long. It was completed by Yang Migui in May 2008 who was a worker on the line's construction in the 1970s, and began working on the painting in 1998. It is reportedly the world's longest painting created by a single artist.