The Shanghai–Kunming Railway or Hukun Railway (), also known as the Hukun Line, is a major arterial

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

across

eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

, south central and

southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It connects

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, whose shorthand name is ''Hu'', and

Kunming Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headquar ...

. The line has a total length of 2,690 km and passes through Shanghai Municipality,

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...

and

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

Province. Major cities along route include Shanghai,

Jiaxing Jiaxing (), alternately romanized as Kashing, is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province, China. Lying on the Grand Canal of China, Jiaxing borders Hangzhou to the southwest, Huzhou to the west, Shanghai to the northeast, and the ...

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

Yiwu Yiwu () is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Jinhua in Central Zhejiang Province, East China. As of the 2020 census, the city had 1,859,390 inhabitants and its built-up (or metro) area, joined with that of the neighboring Dongy ...

Jinhua , alternately romanized as Kinhwa, is a prefecture-level city in central Zhejiang province in eastern China. It borders the provincial capital of Hangzhou to the northwest, Quzhou to the southwest, Lishui to the south, Taizhou to the east, ...

Shangrao Shangrao () is a medium-sized prefecture-level city located in the northeast of Jiangxi province, People's Republic of China. The city borders the province of Anhui to the north, the province of Zhejiang to the east, and the province of Fujian to t ...

Yingtan Yingtan () is a prefecture-level city in the east of Jiangxi province, People's Republic of China, bordering Fujian to the southeast. Its location near the trisection of Jiangxi, Fujian, and Zhejiang has made it a strategically important city for ...

Pingxiang Pingxiang () is a medium-sized prefecture-level city located in western Jiangxi province, People's Republic of China. Geography and climate Pingxiang is a city situated near the border of Jiangxi with Hunan province. Approximately 110 kilometer ...

Zhuzhou Zhuzhou (, ), formerly Jianning (建宁), is a prefecture-level city of Hunan Province, China, straddling the Xiang River southeast of the provincial capital, Changsha, and bordering Jiangxi province to the east. It is part of the " Greater Chan ...

Huaihua Huaihua () is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Hunan province, China. It covers and is bordered by Xiangxi to the northwest, Zhangjiajie and Changde to the north, Yiyang, Loudi and Shaoyang to the east, Guilin and Liuzhou of Guangxi ...

, Kaili,

Guiyang Guiyang (; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), historically rendered as Kweiyang, is the capital of Guizhou province of the People's Republic of China. It is located in the center of the province, situated on the east of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, ...

Anshun Anshun () is a prefecture-level city located in southwestern Guizhou province, southwest China, near the Huangguoshu Waterfall, the tallest in China. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 2,297,339. The city proper had a population of 7 ...

Qujing Qujing () is a prefecture-level city in the east of Yunnan province, China, bordering Guizhou province to the east and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to the southeast; thus, it was called "Key between Yunnan and Guizhou" () and "Throat of Yu ...

, and Kunming.

Line description

The Hukun Line is

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 In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lin ...

from Shanghai's South Station to

Liupanshui Liupanshui () is a city in western Guizhou province, People's Republic of China. The name Liupanshui combines the first character from the names of each of the city's three constituent counties: Liuzhi, Panzhou, Shuicheng. As a prefecture-level ...

and

single-track railway A single-track railway is a railway where trains traveling in both directions share the same track. Single track is usually found on lesser-used rail lines, often branch lines, where the level of traffic is not high enough to justify the co ...

for about from Liupanshui to Kunming. The

speed limit Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expres ...

for the line is from Shanghai to

and from Zhuzhou to

. The entire line is

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

The Shanghai–Kunming high-speed railway runs parallel to the Shanghai–Kunming Railway.

History

The Shanghai–Kunming Railway has four major segments, which were built over a span of 70 years. In 2006, after the

Ministry of Railways A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructur ...

rebuilt sections along route and increased train travel speed, the four lines were collectively referred to as one. * Shanghai–Hangzhou Railway (Huhang Line ), 189 km in length, was built between 1906 and 1909 and connects Shanghai and Hangzhou. * Zhejiang–Jiangxi Railway (Zhegan Line ), 946 km in length, was built between 1899 and 1926 and connected Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, with

, in northern

province. *

Hunan–Guizhou Railway The Hunan–Guizhou railway or Xiangqian railway (), is a double-track electrified railroad in Southwest China linking Zhuzhou, Hunan, with Guiyang, Guizhou. The railway runs through a very mountainous region, 23% of its length were either bridge ...

(Xiangqian Line ), 905 km in length, was begun in 1937, halted in 1939 by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, restarted in 1953 and completed in 1975. It runs from Zhuzhou to Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province. * Guiyang–Kunming Railway (Guikun Line ), 639 km in length, was built between 1958 and 1970, and connects Guiyang and Kunming. It was electrified in 1980.

Accidents

On May 23, 2010 (UTC+8), a passenger train derailed after heavy rains caused mudslides on the Hukun Line in Jiangxi Province, killing 19 passengers and injuring 71.

External links

Documentary about the Guikun line.

References

Railway lines in China Rail transport in Shanghai Rail transport in Zhejiang Rail transport in Jiangxi Rail transport in Hunan Rail transport in Guizhou Rail transport in Yunnan {{PRChina-rail-transport-stub

Line description

History

Accidents

External links

See also

References