Baoji–Chengdu Railway
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The Baoji–Chengdu railway, Bao–Cheng railway or Bao–Cheng Line was formerly designed as a rail line that connects
Tianshui Tianshui is a prefecture-level city in Gansu province, China, and is the province's second-largest city (behind the provincial capital Lanzhou). Located in the southeast of the province, the city strides along the upper reaches of the Wei River a ...
and
Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...
called Tianshui–Chengdu railway ( zh, s=天水—成都铁路, t=天水—成都鐵路, p=Tiānshuǐ Chéngdū Tiělù) or Tiancheng railway ( zh, s=天成线, t=天成線, p=Tiān Chéng Xiàn). The line is a mixed single- and double-track, electrified, 676-kilometer
railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
in China between
Baoji Baoji ( zh, s= , t= , p=Bǎojī; ) is a prefecture-level city in western Shaanxi province, People's Republic of China. Since the early 1990s, Baoji has been the second largest city in Shaanxi. Geography The prefecture-level city of Baoji had a ...
in
Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...
province and
Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...
in
Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...
province. It is one of main lines that connects southwestern with northwestern China and a part of the Lanzhou–Kunming Corridor of the Eight Verticals. The line finished construction on 12 July 1956, after which it began operating on 1 January 1958. The rail line is also the first one in China to be electrified. The Baoji–
Guangyuan Guangyuan ( zh, s= , t=廣元 , p=Guǎngyuán , w=Kuang-yüan) is a prefecture-level city in Sichuan Province, China, bordering the provinces of Shaanxi to the northeast and Gansu to the northwest. Guangyuan City is located on the northern edge ...
section of the line is under the control of China Railway Xi'an Group, while the rest is in charge of China Railway Chengdu Group. The railway was added to the List of China's Industrial Heritages for Conservation in January 2018.


Line description

The Bao–Cheng Line runs southwards from
Guanzhong Plain Guanzhong (, formerly romanization of Chinese, romanised as Kwanchung) region, also known as the Guanzhong Basin, Wei River Basin, or uncommonly as the Shaanzhong region, is a historical region of China corresponding to the crescentic graben str ...
to
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 tributar ...
and traverses the
Qinling The Qinling () or Qin Mountains, formerly known as the Nanshan ("Southern Mountains"), are a major east–west mountain range in southern Shaanxi Province, China. The mountains mark the divide between the drainage basins of the Yangtze and Ye ...
,
Daba Mountains The Daba Mountains, also known by their Chinese name as the Dabashan, are a mountain range in Central China between the watersheds of the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers. Part of the larger Qinling mountain range, it cuts through four provinces: S ...
, and Jianmen after leaving Baoji. The rail line goes through 5 different zones of geological structures (including
granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
,
quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock that was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tecton ...
,
greenschist Greenschists are metamorphic rocks that formed under the lowest temperatures and pressures usually produced by regional metamorphism, typically and 2–10 kilobars (). Greenschists commonly have an abundance of green minerals such as Chlorite ...
, conglomerate and
slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
); around 80% are in the mountainous area. The line stretches along the ancient roads and Qingjiang River after entering the Qin Mountains, as the track elevates with a
slope In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a Line (mathematics), line is a number that describes the direction (geometry), direction of the line on a plane (geometry), plane. Often denoted by the letter ''m'', slope is calculated as the ratio of t ...
of 30‰ in the Renjiawan–Yangjiawan section; the steepest section can reach 33‰. A spiral by 3 horseshoe-shaped tracks and a figure-8 one, which is stacked in 3 layers and raised up to 817 meters, allows the rail line to navigate topological difficulties. To avoid the overheating of brakes during the downhill journey, Qingshiya Station was established in the spiral to make the locomotives cool down, as the station is also the highest and steepest station with the smallest radius throughout the line. A 2363.6-meter-long tunnel brings the line to the
Jialing River The Jialing River, formerly known by numerous other names, is a major tributary of the Yangtze River in the Sichuan Basin. It is named after the Jialing Valley in Feng County, Shaanxi through which it flows. The Jialing River's most notable c ...
's
drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
, after which the line starts its 12‰ downhill slope towards Guangyuan with 14 bridges across the river in Qinling– Lüeyang section. Overall, the line has 304 tunnels and 1,001 bridges, which collectively account for 17% of the total track length. The 4-kilometer Huilongchang Tunnel is the longest tunnel of the line. Additionally, the train is the first to-capital train for residents throughout
southwestern China Southwestern China () is a region in the People's Republic of China. It consists of five provincial administrative regions, namely Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Xizang. Geography Southwestern China is a rugged and mountainous region, ...
. Additionally, the line features several sections where slopes are long and steep with multiple curves, especially the Baoji–Qinling section. The power of
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...
s was so low that it had greatly degraded the line's transporting capabilities after the line's operation began; the Guanyinshan Spiral took trains almost the same time to pass as pedestrians. Therefore, the line was listed high on the agenda for rail electrification. The line finished electrification in 1976 and has been using
electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a Battery (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...
s since. Bank engines are still employed to secure the abundant power during the mountain climb and brakes for downhill journeys in Baoji–Qinling section with the help of HXD3 locomotives: one for passenger coaches and two for freight coaches. The aggregate weight of trains to climb the mountains is limited to no more than 3000 tons and 2600 tons for the downhill ones. The line began its construction for another track in 1993; the double-track section came into operation on 26 December 1999. The rail tracks succeeded in making cities along the line into core regions of the Third Front and played a key role in the fundamental supplies for the cities within the plan. Later, the opening of the Xi'an–Chengdu Highspeed Railway on 6 December 2017 made the number of passenger trains on the line beginning at Baoji decrease to roughly 20. In Baoji, the line meets the Longhai railway, on which trains can travel east to
Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...
and the Central Plains or west to
Lanzhou Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu province in northwestern China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. His ...
and the
northwest 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— ...
, and Baoji–Zhongchuan railway. At
Yangpingguan Yangpingguan () is a town in central Ningqiang County, in southwestern Shaanxi province, China. The town has an area of , in which there are 1 residential community () and 20 villages holding a total population of 26,000.(Chinese"阳平关镇" '' ...
, the line intersects with the Yang'an railway which branches eastward along the Han River Valley. In Chengdu, the line connects with the Chengyu Line to Chongqing, the Chengqian Line to Guizhou, and the Chengkun Line to Kunming. The line meets Xi'an–Chengdu Highspeed Railway and Lanzhou–Chongqing railway in Guangyuan.


History


Construction

The Bao–Cheng line was originally proposed in
Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-senUsually known as Sun Zhongshan () in Chinese; also known by Names of Sun Yat-sen, several other names. (; 12 November 186612 March 1925) was a Chinese physician, revolutionary, statesman, and political philosopher who founded the Republ ...
's 1913 China National Railway Plan as part of the Datong–Chengdu railway. However, it wasn't implemented back then due to the oversized scale. The
Beiyang government The Beiyang government was the internationally recognized government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China between 1912 and 1928, based in Beijing. It was dominated by the generals of the Beiyang Army, giving it its name. B ...
later suggested schemes regarding a rail line that connected Tianshui with Chengdu in 1920. The aerial topographical surveys for the line's section in Shaanxi Province were conducted by the project group in 1936, which was followed by 1940 and 1947 surveys. However, the blueprint was still not put into practice.The PRC Ministry of Railways (MOR) managed to conduct further surveys for the Tianshui–Lüeyang section of the 1920 scheme along with a brand-new Baoji–Lüeyang one with the assistance of experts from
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, after which the new one was selected following comparisons of the geological and transportation network conditions with the former one. Construction of the line was added to the first five-year plan afterwards. Construction began in Chengdu on 1 July 1952, when
Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...
instructed, during the opening ceremony of
Chengdu–Chongqing railway Chengdu–Chongqing railway or Chengyu railway ( zh, s=成渝铁路, t=成渝鐵路, p=chéngyú tiělù), is a single-track electrified railroad in the Sichuan Basin of Southwest China between the cities Chengdu and Chongqing. Chongqing's short ...
, to "keep going on to turn the Tianshui–Chengdu railway into real". The construction throughout Sichuan then began in 1953; track-laying work started from south to north at the Chengdu end in April. The construction featured the technological assistance of over 30 Soviet experts, along with two Hungarian experts, as well as material supplies from residents along the line. The maximum number of workers involved reached 140 thousand during the construction. The line got renamed to the Baoji–Chengdu Railway on 1 December 1952, and construction in Shaanxi Province started from Baoji in January 1954. On 10 August 1955, under the guidance of Soviet experts, China Railway successfully carried out the grand blastings for Guanyinshan Station, which became the first successful large-scale blasting throughout the history of China's railway construction. The line was connected on 12 July 1956 in Huangshahe Village of Huixian County, Longnan, 13 months ahead of schedule, and opened on 1 January 1958. Steam locomotives were employed thereafter.


Electrification

Preparations for the electrification project of Baoji–Chengdu railway began in 1953. The MOR initially set the catenary to 3 kV DC and submitted the plan to the Soviet counterparts for evaluations in June 1955, but in April 1957, it was determined that single-phase electric power of 25 kV with utility frequency should be employed after learning that other countries had been using this upgraded style. The project was re-schemed soon after. The new design was reevaluated by Moscow in May 1958 and put into practice after the agreement in June. Engineers decided to reduce the demanded amount of
transformer In electrical engineering, a transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple Electrical network, circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces ...
s from six to four for substations due to lack of key ingredients for
silicon steel Silicon is a chemical element; it has symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic lustre, and is a tetravalent metalloid (sometimes considered a non-metal) and semiconductor. It is a membe ...
and high prices for imports resulting from technological denials from the Western countries. Of the transformers, three were implemented in the substations, and one was placed on a flat wagon that travels among the three substations. The decision gave birth to China's first mobile transformer in 1965. MOR kept insisting that electric locomotives should adopt both domestic and foreign production lines, as the domestic 6Y1 prototype of the Shaoshan series began its experimental run in the 1960s, and 25 imported arrived at ports of mainland China. Later, they became the major type of locomotives after the electrification in Baoji–Fengzhou section finished in 1961. The other four sections finished their electrifications respectively afterward before 1 July 1975 when the ceremony of celebration took place. The electrification upgraded the line's maximum speed to 80
km/h The kilometre per hour ( SI symbol: km/h; non-SI abbreviations: kph, kmph, km/hr) is a unit of speed, expressing the number of kilometres travelled in one hour. History Although the metre was formally defined in 1799, the term "kilometres per h ...
; Further improvements on the shape and flexibility of cables were made around 1978. The HXD locomotive series was officially employed on the rail line after the
2008 Sichuan earthquake An earthquake occurred in the province of Sichuan, China at 14:28:01 China Standard Time on May 12, 2008. Measuring at 8.0 (7.9–8.3 ), the earthquake's epicenter was located boxing the compass, west-northwest of Chengdu, the provincial ...
, leading to faster freight transportation with the help of new high-powered locomotives. Substations were gradually replaced by
SCADA SCADA (an acronym for supervisory control and data acquisition) is a control system architecture comprising computers, networked data communications and graphical user interfaces for high-level supervision of machines and processes. It also cove ...
for smart and automatic controls to ensure continuous and abundant electricity.


Remediation

MOR established an expert group to investigate the frequent
landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...
s on the line in 1955. Three tunnels of a total length of 1,439 meters and 10 culverts of 657 meters had been built in Sichuan late 1957 to improve situation. Xi'an Group, Chengdu Group, and Lanzhou Group of MOR, in line with the principle of "opening first and then consolidating, taking care of the future", took measures to restore and reinforce the damaged bridges and roadbeds along the line after the 1981 flood. Over 15 thousand workers were enlisted for the effort.


Transformation

MOR decided to divert the high-slope section with limited capacity between Luomiaozhen and Majiaoba in December 1959. The diversion began on 15 February 1960 and was suspended in April 1962. The project restarted in November 1964 and finished in September 1969. Several large-scale capacity improvements were then made later on to meet the demands of economic growth and social development. Another upgrade was made in September 1990 between Guangyuan and Majiaoba on the automatic block signaling of axle counters, making the punctuality increase by 3.9 percent for freight trains and 0.3 percent for passenger trains. The line then completed its heavy rail upgrade in 1993, the year when the second track's construction started. The second track lies on the rail line's
Yangpingguan Yangpingguan () is a town in central Ningqiang County, in southwestern Shaanxi province, China. The town has an area of , in which there are 1 residential community () and 20 villages holding a total population of 26,000.(Chinese"阳平关镇" '' ...
–Chengdu section, and capacity was greatly improved after its finish on 26 December 1999. The second track in the Yangpingguan– Qingbaijiang section is also the first additional in-mountains track among China's electrified railway lines. From 2008 to 2009, the line completed a seamless transformation; in 2014, the line once again upgraded the profiles and
ties TIES may refer to: * TIES, Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science * TIES, The Interactive Encyclopedia System * TIES, Time Independent Escape Sequence * Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science * The International Ecotourism Society {{disambig ...
on the small radius curve of the main line. In 2021, the Sichuan government issued a plan regarding the provincial multi-layer rail transit system and mentioned that a total length of 24.1 kilometers, as well as 10 stations on the Baoji–Chengdu Railway, would be transformed to fit for a metro-styled operation, with trains traveling with smaller coaches but shorter intervals. The plan also mentioned that the maximum speed of the line's Chengdu–Qingbaijiang section would be increased to 160 km/h as a result of transformation. A few years later,
China Railway China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., doing business as China Railway (CR), is the national passenger and freight railroad corporation of the China, People's Republic of China. China Railway operates passenger and freight Rail transport in Chi ...
issued a call for a new wave of capacity improvements on 30 May 2024.


Temporary operations

The Huixian–Chengdu section of the line was once separated into 4 parts for temporary operations, of which the Chengdu–
Mianyang Mianyang ( zh, s=绵阳, t=綿陽, w=Mien2-yang2, p=Miányáng; Sichuanese Pinyin, Sichuanese romanization: ''Mien-iang''; formerly known as Mienchow, zh, t=綿州, p=Mianzhou, links=no; Sichuanese romanization: ''Miencheo''; ) is the second lar ...
section began in October 1953, the Mianyang–Zhongba section began in February 1954, the Zhongba–Guangyuan section began in February 1955, and the rest began in October 1956. The temporary operation phase mainly focused on deliveries for construction-related materials, and some passengers were also allowed to ride: A total of 2.75 million tons of road materials, along with 2.42 million tons of local materials and 3.02 million passengers, were delivered before the 1958 official openings. The temporary operations also made the line critical for goods and passengers to leave and enter Sichuan Basin in June 1956 when service of roadways had been dropped due to the 19-day storm season. The 1957 urgent food transmission from Sichuan, which was called by the State Council, also involved the Bao–Cheng Line by delivering 800 thousand tons of grains. The official operations of the Chengdu–Guangyuan section began in January 1955; the Guangyuan–Mianyang section was consigned in October. In January 1958, the Guangyuan–Fengzhou section of the line began officially operating, thus marking the end of the temporary operation period of the Baoji–Chengdu railway.


Acceptance check

Baoji–Chengdu Railway was assessed as a "qualified and good project" after the National Acceptance Committee's check during the stage of temporary operations. The committee also noted that the line featured a short duration of construction, low costs, high rate of handing over fixed assets, and a quick comeback for the previous investments. Initially, the Chengdu Group and Zhengzhou Group took control of the line. The Fengzhou–Shangxiba section of the line was given to the Xi'an Group for control after it was separated from Zhengzhou Group in September 1958. The section was then given back to Zhengzhou after Zhengzhou Group got reunified and was given to Xi'an Group again after Xi'an Group's independence on 18 March 2005.


Opening ceremonies

Opening ceremonies of the Chengdu–Mianyang and Mianyang–Guangyuan sections took place already on 1 October 1953 and 1 January 1955 respectively, which was followed by a 1956 ceremony for the Guangyuan–Lüeyang section on the
New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...
. The official opening ceremony of the whole line took place at 2 p.m. in Chengdu railway station on New Year's Day of 1958. He Long,
Nie Rongzhen Nie Rongzhen ( zh , s = 聂荣臻 , p = Niè Róngzhēn , w = Nieh Jung-chen ; December 29, 1899 – May 14, 1992) was a Marshal of the People's Republic of China. He died as the last People's Liberation Army (PLA) marshal. Biography Nie was b ...
,
Kang Sheng Kang Sheng (; 4 November 1898 – 16 December 1975), born Zhang Zongke (), was a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official, politician and calligrapher best known for having overseen the work of the CCP's internal security and intelligence appara ...
, Teng Daiyuan, Huang Kecheng, and other political figures in mainland China, along with the vice minister of Union of Burma, attended the ceremony, while
Radio Moscow Radio Moscow (), also known as Radio Moscow World Service, was the official international broadcasting station of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics until 1993, when it was reorganized into Voice of Russia, which was subsequently reorga ...
and major radio broadcasts in China conducted interviews and reports that day. He started the ceremony with a speech, which was followed by ones from Teng; Zhao Shoushan, the governor of Shaanxi Province; Huang Zhengqing, the vice governor of
Gansu Province Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...
; Li Dazhang, the governor of Sichuan Province; and Peskunov, the representative of Soviet experts and other workers. A ribbon cutting happened at 3 p.m., after which an express train left Chengdu for
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
at 4 p.m., thus marking the opening of the Bao–Cheng Railway. Another ceremony was held to celebrate the finish of the line's electrification on 1 July 1975 in Chengdu railway station. The SS1008 locomotive was shown at the ceremony.


Incidents

Two
fugitives A fugitive or runaway is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...
wanted for
homicide Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...
fled from
Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...
on 10 May 1987 and hijacked a
taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...
in Baoji to enter Guanyinshan railway station on 20 May. A police officer in the station, along with station operators, found them and brought them back to the duty room. However, the two criminals suddenly shot the three in-station workers and fled into the mountains. Public Security Bureau in Shaanxi made immediate urgent plans after receiving the call of help and asked for assistance from counterparts in Sichuan and Gansu. The two were eventually arrested at 3.45 p.m. on 22 May in Baoji. China Railway Xi'an Group intended to preserve only two trains on the line after the storms in July 2018 in search of stabilities and securities for trains' service, but it soon received complaints from residents in the Gansu and Shaanxi Provinces. Xi'an then decided to withdraw by recovering operations of six more trains on the line but instructed that all passenger trains must pass the Yangpingguan–Lüeyang section before sundown.


Accidents

The Baoji–Chengdu railway was built no more than a decade after the founding of the PRC. At the time, the
economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...
was not strong enough to secure the standard of technologies applied for railway constructions due to lack of facilities. Accidents thus kept occurring from the line's establishment due to the
extreme weather Extreme weather includes unexpected, unusual, severe weather, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Extreme events are based on a location's recorded weat ...
along the railway. In 1982, China Railway Xi'an Group determined that the rail line's route should be changed near Lingguanxia due to the subgrade sink caused by the mountain shifts. New route construction finished in 1986. On 21 June 1984, a seat coach was attacked by three rocks that fell from a mountain in Wangjiatuo–Lesuhe section. Altogether, five passengers were injured, and many coach windows were damaged. The 2008 Sichuan earthquake denied Tunnel No. 109 on the line when an oil tank coach exploded after being hit by a falling rock. A new Tunnel No. 109 was built on 12 November 2008 which abandoned the former tunnel for a faster speed of trains. The earthquake also made the entire line's service pause for 12 days. In the afternoon of 19 August 2010, a bridge of the railway in Guanghan was brought down by
floods A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...
, causing two coaches of a train fell into the river. All 1,318 passengers on the train were evacuated with no one injured. The bridge was rebuilt on 21 August, and service was restored on 13 October. In July 2024, over 70 places on the line were destroyed by the flood in Baoji. At midnight on 17 July, a safety maintenance locomotive fell down from a flood-destroyed bridge into river. On 10 August, services were restored.


Influences


Education

The Baoji–Chengdu railway succeeded in cultivating talents regarding the design, construction, and manufacturing of electric locomotives and railroads due to its role as the first electrified railway line in China; ultimately, the rail line pushed forward domestic education regarding
electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
. It also convinced the MOR that all lines should employ electrical networks afterwards, thus increasing demand on electric operations and therefore an increasing number of related schools in colleges nationwide. This, in turn, brought in more talent for further promotion of electrified railroads in China.}


Literatures

Yan Yi, a writer from
Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
, published ''The Rainbow Bridge'' ( zh, s=《彩桥》, t=「彩橋」, p=Cǎiqiáo), a 1,500-row narrative poem in July 1957 based on stories of bridge construction in the Bao–Cheng Line. In 1958, Du Pengcheng, another domestic writer, published ''A Night Walk in Lingguanxia'' ( zh, s=《夜走灵官峡》, t=「夜走靈官峽」, p=Yèzǒu Língguānxiá), a
novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
basing on his interviews and experiences at the construction site of the line in the autumn of 1955. The work was once copied to
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...
textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions, but also of learners ( ...
s in some regions.


Exhibition

In 2008, Fengxian transformed abandoned tunnels, which had been abandoned after the 1980s flood, into scenic spots for tourism. Xujiaping, a town in Lüeyang County, cooperated with China Railway Xi'an Group to transform the ruins of tunnels and railroads into cultural zones. The ruins have now been listed as a provincial site for preservation. China Railway Xi'an Group also built museums and theme parks related to the rail line near Qinling railway station on 18 May 2022. The Baoji Locomotive Maintenance Factory held the 2nd National
Stamp Collecting Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is an area of philately, which is the study (or combined study and collection) of stamps. It has been one of the world's most popular hobbies since the late nineteenth ...
Exhibition on Rail Cultures with the aim of celebrating the 65th anniversary of the rail line's official operations in April 2023. The exhibition was also intended to celebrate the achievements of China P. R. and stimulate the
patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one's country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, politic ...
of the public.


Spirits

Descendants have called the superb spirits of workers on the line as the "Bao–Cheng spirit" ( zh, s=宝成精神, t=寶成精神, p=Bǎo Chéng Jīngshén), which stands for "Say no to quit, say no to surrender, say no to equivocate".


See also

* List of railways in China * Longhai railway and Chengdu–Kunming railway, the rest parts of the Lanzhou–Kunming Corridor * China Railways DJ1, a type of locomotives formerly employed on Baoji–Chengdu Railway *
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
, the time when the rail line got electrified


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baoji-Chengdu Railway Railway lines in China Rail transport in Sichuan Rail transport in Gansu Rail transport in Shaanxi