Chengdu–Chongqing railway or Chengyu railway (), is a single-track

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 ...

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 ...

in the

Sichuan Basin The Sichuan Basin (), formerly transliterated as the Szechwan Basin, sometimes called the Red Basin, is a lowland region in southwestern China. It is surrounded by mountains on all sides and is drained by the upper Yangtze River and its tributa ...

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 ...

between the cities

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

and

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

. Chongqing's short form name is Yu (渝) and the railway is named after the two cities. The line has a total length of . The Chengyu railway opened in 1952 and was the first railway to be built after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Other cities along the route include Jianyang,

Ziyang Ziyang () prefecture-level city in eastern Sichuan province, China. It is bordered by the provincial capital of Chengdu to the northwest, Deyang to the north, Suining to the northeast, Chongqing municipality to the east, and Neijiang to the west ...

Zizhong Zizhong County is a county of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of Neijiang Neijiang (; Sichuanese Pinyin: Nui4jiang1; Sichuanese pronunciation: ; ) is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of Sichuan province, People' ...

Neijiang Neijiang (; Sichuanese Pinyin: Nui4jiang1; Sichuanese pronunciation: ; ) is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of Sichuan province, People's Republic of China. It is located on the Tuo River, midway between the two major cities of Chengdu ...

, Longchang and

Yongchuan Yongchuan () is a district of Chongqing, China, located by the north side of upper reach of Yangtze River, with a history of 1200 years. Yongchuan borders Sichuan province to the southwest and is away from Yuzhong District of central Chongqing a ...

. The line is single-track, but duplication commenced between Chongqing and Jiangjin in November 2019.

History

In 1903, a railway line between Chengdu and Chongqing, the two biggest cities in Sichuan, was proposed by

Huguang Huguang was a province of China during the Yuan and Ming dynasties. It was founded by the Yuan dynasty in 1274. During the Yuan dynasty it included the areas of modern Hubei south of the Yangtze river, Hunan, Guizhou, and Guangxi. During the Ming ...

Viceroy

Zhang Zhidong Zhang Zhidong () (4 September 18375 October 1909) was a Chinese politician who lived during the late Qing dynasty. Along with Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong was one of the four most famous officials of the late Qing ...

as part of a railway from Sichuan to

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...

. Construction on this line began in 1909 and halted in 1911. Attempts to resume construction in 1936, by the

China Development Finance Corporation The China Development Finance Corporation (CDFC, zh, 中國建設銀公司) was an investment company formed in 1934 to facilitate investment in the Republic of China, specifically into infrastructure development and in particular railways. It ...

, and in 1947 ended with the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War and the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

. On December 31, 1949, shortly after the Chinese Communists captured Sichuan from the Nationalists, Secretary of the Southwest Bureau

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CC ...

proposed the building of the railway. Work began on June 15, 1950 and involved 30,000

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

troops and 10,000 civilian laborers. More than 400 private steel mills in Chongqing supplied steel for the line. The line was completed on June 13, 1952, and entered into trial operation on July 1. It was the first railway line built in China after the establishment of the People's Republic of China. In 1987, the Chengyu Line was fully

, raising annual carrying capacity from 6.1 million tons to 13 million. The opening of the Chengdu–Chongqing Expressway in 1995 drew passengers away from the railway. By 2008, the line was transporting 90 million tons of cargo and 70 million passengers per year."新中国档案：成渝铁路--新中国的第一条铁路"
2009-08-11

Passenger service

As of 2021, the only remaining passenger service is a one train in each direction per day between

and

Other rail lines between Chengdu and Chongqing

After the opening of the

Dazhou–Chengdu railway Dazhou–Chengdu Railway or Dacheng Railway (), is a double-track, Railway electrification system, electrified railroad in Sichuan Province of Southwest China, southwest China. The railway is named after its two terminal cities Chengdu and Dazhou ...

( 达成铁路) (via

Suining Suining (; Sichuanese Pinyin: Xu4nin2; Sichuanese pronunciation: ; ) is a prefecture-level city of eastern Sichuan province in Southwest China. In 2002, Suining had a population of 658,798. Geography and climate Suining is located in the cent ...

) in 1997, and the Suining–Chongqing Railway in 2006, another, shorter, railway route between Chengdu and Chongqing, via Suining (so-called 成遂渝铁路), long, appeared. Since 2009, high-speed

CRH CRH may refer to: * Calibre radius head, a traditional British ordnance term for a concept in ballistic projectile design * Celtic Resources Holdings, an Irish mining company * China Railway High-speed, a high-speed railway service operated by Chin ...

passenger trains run on that route. The third railway line between the two cities, the Chengdu-Chongqing high-speed railway, completed on December 26, 2015, accommodates high-speed trains traveling at up to . Although it follows a route generally similar to that of the original Chengdu–Chongqing railway, it is significantly shorter due to the greater use of elevated sections and tunnels.成渝客运专线最快2014年通车
, luzhouol.cn, 2012-07-31

Rail junctions

Baoji–Chengdu railway The Baoji–Chengdu railway or Baocheng railway (), is a mixed single- and double-track, electrified, railroad in China between Baoji in Shaanxi province and Chengdu in Sichuan province. The Baocheng Line is the main railway connection between ...

Chengdu–Kunming railway The Chengdu–Kunming railway or Chengkun railway (), is a major trunkline railroad in southwestern China between Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province and Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province. The line is long and traverses rugged ter ...

Neijiang–Kunming railway The Neijiang–Kunming railway or Neikun railway (), is a single-track railroad between Neijiang and Kunming in Southwest China. The line runs from Neijiang in Sichuan province to Kunming in Yunnan province through western Guizhou province ...

: Xiangfan–Chongqing railway,

Chongqing–Huaihua railway Chongqing–Huaihua railway or Yuhuai railway (), is a single-track, electrified railroad in southwest China between Chongqing Municipality and Huaihua in Hunan Province. The line is long and was built between 2000 and 2005. Cities and towns al ...

References

External links