Jining–Tongliao Railway
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The Jitong-Tongliao Railway () is a railway in
Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
, China, that opened in 1995. Its starting point is at
Jining Jining () is a prefecture-level city in southwestern Shandong province. It borders Heze to the southwest, Zaozhuang to the southeast, Tai'an to the northeast, and the provinces of Henan and Jiangsu to the northwest and south respectively. Jining ...
and ends at
Tongliao Tongliao (; mn, ''Tüŋliyou qota'', Mongolian Cyrillic: Байшинт хот) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. The area is and as of the 2020 census, its population was 2,873,168 (3,139,153 i ...
. The Jitong Railway is a joint venture between
China Railway China State Railway Group Company, Ltd., doing business as China Railway (CR), is the national passenger and freight railroad corporation of the People's Republic of China. China Railway operates passenger and freight transport throughout Ch ...
and the government of Inner Mongolia. Since Inner Mongolia was one of the poorer
provinces of China The provincial level administrative divisions () are the highest-level administrative divisions of China. There are 34 such divisions claimed by the People's Republic of China, classified as 23 provinces (), five autonomous regions, four munici ...
in the early 1990s, the line was built with an eye towards reducing startup costs, with the intention of upgrading at a future date as funds became available. The tracks were built to a high engineering standard, featuring heavy rail, concrete crossties, and extensive use of tunnels and viaducts to reduce
grades Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also r ...
. In contrast, lower-cost anachronistic technologies were intentionally selected for cases where it was possible to upgrade incrementally: semaphore signaling, staffed crossing gates, and steam engines.


World's last mainline steam train service

Due to low labor costs and plentiful coal, China was one of the last countries to retire steam locomotives on mainline services. As
dieselisation Dieselisation (US: dieselization) is the process of equipping vehicles with a diesel engine or diesel engines. It can involve replacing an internal combustion engine powered by petrol (gasoline) fuel with an engine powered by diesel fuel, as o ...
and
electrification 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 histor ...
progressed in the early 1990s, China Railways found itself with a large stock of surplus steam locomotives, some built as recently as the late 1980s. The government of Inner Mongolia was thus able to acquire steam engines at a low cost for use on the Jitong Railway. The line's proximity to coal mines also allowed fuel to be procured locally, resulting in reduced operating costs. The Jitong Railway was the last mainline railway in the world to use steam locomotives. All of these locomotives were the large
2-10-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels, ten powered and coupled driving wheels, and two trailing wheels. In the United States of America and elsewhere the is ...
QJ type engines and often trains had 2 locomotives on their head end. On December 8, 2005, the world's last regular mainline steam train finished its journey, marking the end of the steam era. The steam locomotives were replaced by the
DF4 The DF4 (Chinese: 东风4) is a type of diesel-electric locomotive used in the People's Republic of China. It has been in production since 1969 and is still produced as of 2007 by several local companies. It is the most common locomotive in Chin ...
diesel locomotives. Most of the QJs were scrapped, but a handful are on display at the depot in Daban. Three have been exported to the United States of America. 6988 and 7081 were sold to the Iowa Interstate Railroad in 2006, and have operated on many excursions since. 7040 was sold to the RJ Corman company in Kentucky in 2008. Renumbered 2008, it ran special trips for five years before being put into storage in 2013. It was sold to the Kentucky steam Heritage Corp. in March of 2020, and will eventually be evaluated for an overhaul.


Electrification

Electrification of the railway began in April 2020. The project is expected to take four years.


See also

*
Rail transport in the People's Republic of China Rail transport is an important mode of long-distance transportation in China. As of 2021, the country had more than of railways, the second longest network in the world. By the end of 2021, China had more than of high-speed rail (HSR), the l ...
*
Rail transport in Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
*
List of railways in China The following is a list of conventional lines of rail transport in China. For the high-speed network, see List of high-speed railway lines in China. North–south direction Beijing-Harbin Corridor * Jingqin Railway; Beijing-Qinhuangdao 京 ...


External links


Detailed descriptions of the line, its depots and tractive power during the steam locomotive time

International Herald Tribune report



References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jining-Tongliao Railway Railway lines in China Rail transport in Inner Mongolia Transport in Inner Mongolia Railway lines opened in 1995