The Beijing–Shanghai railway or Jinghu railway () is a railway line between

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 ...

and Shanghai. The line has a total length of and connects the municipalities of Beijing,

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

, and Shanghai, as well as the provinces of

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 ...

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

and

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

. It is commonly referred to as the Jinghu railway, taking on the abbreviated names of the two terminal cities. In Chinese, ''Jing'' means "capital" and refers to

, and ''Hu'' is the abbreviated name for Shanghai.

History

The Beijing–Shanghai railway is composed of three sections. These three sections are some of the earliest railways in China, built before 1910 during the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

. The first section is from

, constructed as part of the Imperial Railways of Northern China between 1897 and 1900. The second section is from

to Pukoua suburb of

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

and used to be called the Tianjin–Pukou railway. The third section is from

to Shanghai, built between 1905 and 1908. This section is called Shanghai–Nanjing railway. During 1927–1949, however, when China's capital was

, this section alone was called the "Jinghu" railway. Between Pukou and Xiaguan, the railway crosses the Yangtze River. Before the completion of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in 1968, the trains were ferried across car-by-car. Passengers could also disembark at Nanjing North (Pukou), take a passenger ferry, and take a train again at the then Nanjing main station south of the river (now known as Nanjing West). After the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge was completed in 1968, these three sections were linked together and renamed as a single Beijing–Shanghai or Jinghu railway. In May 2007, electrification of the section between Fuliji railway station and Linchang railway station was completed.

Current status

The railway line is the principal line between Beijing and Shanghai and along with the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway, it serves as one of the busiest rail corridors in China. It has dual tracks between Beijing and Shanghai, and the full length of the railway has been electrified. The entire line is dual tracked. Passenger rail service now offers overnight service on CRH Sleepers (D-series trains). D type express overnight sleeper bullet trains have now commenced operation between Beijing and Nanjing/Shanghai/Hangzhou.. There are currently 6 overnight D bullet trains. Overnight Bullet trains take between 9 hours and 23 minutes to 9 hours, 36 minutes between Beijing and Nanjing and were Soft sleeper only but now changed to sleeper first-class and sleeper second-class, which provide better facilities than Soft and Hard sleepers on conventional trains respectively. Some trains also have second-class seat cars. On June 30, 2011, the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway opened and runs roughly parallel to the Beijing–Shanghai railway. The opening of the high-speed railway relieved the Beijing–Shanghai railway from overcrowding, and it's increasingly shifted to freight traffic. As of 2017, two regular trains per day (not including aforementioned overnight sleepers) go the full way from Beijing to Shanghai on the old line, although hundreds of trains still use selected sections of it.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beijing-Shanghai Railway Railway lines in China Rail transport in Beijing Rail transport in Tianjin Rail transport in Shanghai Rail transport in Hebei Rail transport in Jiangsu Rail transport in Anhui Rail transport in Shandong Railway lines opened in 1968

History

Current status

See also

References