The Rizhao–Lankao high-speed railway is a

high-speed railway High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, line ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

and

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

, China.

History

The initial section, from to , opened on 26 November 2019, connecting Rizhao on the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. It is one of four seas named after common colour terms ...

coast with Qufu, home of

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

and a major tourist destination. The section from to opened on 26 December 2021. The section from to is currently under construction.

Description

The total length of the route from Rizhao to Lankao will be . The railway has a design speed of . The railway starts from on the

Qingdao–Yancheng railway The Qingdao–Yancheng railway is a higher-speed rail Higher-speed rail (HrSR), also known as high-performance rail, higher-performance rail, semi-high-speed rail or almost-high-speed rail, is the jargon used to describe inter-city passenger ...

, part of the

Coastal corridor The Coastal corridor is a high-speed rail corridor running along the eastern coast of China, stretching from Dalian in the north to Fangchenggang in the south and passing through the cities of Shenyang, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Dongying, Weifang, ...

, a high-speed rail corridor running along the eastern coast of China. The railway heads inland to Qufu East on the

Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway The Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway (or Jinghu high-speed railway, from its name in Mandarin) is a high-speed railway that connects two major economic zones in the People's Republic of China: the Bohai Economic Rim and the Yangtze River ...

thereby providing high-speed connections to a wide variety of destinations.

Services

In November 2019, there were around ten trains per day in each direction along the line, the fastest time between the terminals is now 1 hour 14 minutes (trains G5589 and G5570) the slowest direct train on the line takes 1 hour and 53 minutes and stops at every station (train G5578). There are other trains that go the long way around between the stations, for example train G5528 goes from Linyi North to Rizhao West via Qufu, Jinan, Weifang and Qingdao taking 4 hours 35 minutes. Whilst quite a few of the direct trains travel just between Rizhao and Qufu, there are numerous other direct trains which include this section of line, destinations available by direct trains include

Qingdao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

, Zibo,

Weihai Weihai (), formerly called Weihaiwei (), is a prefecture-level city and major seaport in easternmost Shandong province. It borders Yantai to the west and the Yellow Sea to the east, and is the closest Chinese city to South Korea. Weihai's popula ...

Yantai Yantai, Postal Map Romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of ...

Jinan Jinan (), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Tsinan, is the Capital (political), capital of Shandong province in East China, Eastern China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is the second-largest city i ...

and

Tai'an Tai'an () is a prefecture-level city in Western Shandong Province of the People's Republic of China. Centered on Mount Tai, the city borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the north, Zibo to the east, Linyi to the southeast, Liaocheng to ...

Stations

* * * * * * * * * (via branch) * * * * * * * *

References

Railway lines opened in 2019 High-speed railway lines in China Rail transport in Shandong {{DEFAULTSORT:Rizhao-Lankao high-speed railway