Harbin–Qiqihar intercity railway, also known as Ha Qi passenger-dedicated line (PDL), is the China’s most northerly high-speed railway. It opened for revenue service on 17 August 2015, connecting the two principal cities in
Heilongjiang
Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...
province,
Harbin and
Qiqihar
Qiqihar () is the second-largest city in the Heilongjiang province of China, in the west central part of the province. The built-up (or metro) area made up of Longsha, Tiefeng and Jianhua districts had 959,787 inhabitants, while the total populat ...
.
Operating at up to 250 km/h, the high-speed trains have cut the fastest journey time between the cities from 3 h to 85 min. Under construction since 2009, the 286 km line has intermediate stations at Harbin North, Zhaodong, Anda, Daqing East, Daqing West and Dorbod (formerly known as Taikang). It is expected to carry around 8 million passengers a year.
The railway is operated with a fleet of 28 CRH5A trainsets which have been modified to cope with the region's severe winter conditions, where temperatures can fall as low as -40°C. Average temperatures for January are reported to be -19.2°C in Qiqihar and -18.3°C in Harbin.
Route
The railway begins at
Harbin railway station
Harbin railway station () is a railway station on the Jingha railway, Binsui Railway, Labin Railway, Binbei Railway and Binzhou Railway. The station is in Nangang District, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China.
History
Songhuajiang station () was opened ...
and progresses alongside the existing conventional lines to the right adjacent to the
Songhua River
The Songhua or Sunghwa River (also Haixi or Xingal, russian: Сунгари ''Sungari'') is one of the primary rivers of China, and the longest tributary of the Amur. It flows about from the Changbai Mountains on the China–North Korea bo ...
. After crossing on the Songhua River Bridge, the line reaches
Harbin North railway station, newly constructed as part of the line. The line continues alongside the existing conventional
Harbin–Manzhouli railway through the suburban areas, progressing through
Hulan District
Hulan District () is one of nine districts of the prefecture-level city of Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China. It covers part of the northeastern suburbs. The district was approved to establish from the former ''Hulan C ...
before entering
Zhaodong. Afterwards it continues beside the Harbin–Manzhouli railway north-west to Anda and
Daqing finally diverging to terminate in Qiqihar.
Stations
Harbin,
Harbin North,
Zhaodong,
Anda
Anda or ANDA may refer to:
Places China
*Anda, Heilongjiang, a city in Heilongjiang, China
*Anda railway station, a railway station in Anda, China
Iran
*Anda, Iran, a village in Fars Province, Iran
Norway
*Anda, Norway, an island in Øksnes mun ...
,
Daqing East,
Daqing West,
Dorbod and
Qiqihar South.
History
The line was planned as part of the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" and was originally proposed in 2006. Construction started in 2009 and the line opened on 17 August 2015.
Controversy
Original plans called for the demolition of nearly century-old Ji Hongqiao, causing Harbin conservation experts and the public to bring attention to the issue, with some people and experts recommending design changes, related to heritage protection.
The original design of the project planned to demolish and rebuild the century-old railway bridge at Binzhou, through the joint efforts of conservation workers and volunteers, they eventually changed the original design, retaining the old bridge and a new railway bridge for the Harbin–Qiqihar intercity railway.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harbin-Qiqihar Intercity Railway
High-speed railway lines in China
Rail transport in Heilongjiang
Railway lines opened in 2015