The Chongqing–Lichuan railway, or the Yuli railway () is a railway connecting central

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

with the

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

city of Lichuan. The long railway, connecting Chongqing North railway station with the Lichuan Station on the Yichang–Wanzhou railway, is a section of the Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu passenger railway, which extends to

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

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

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

Services

Together with the Hankou–Yichang and Yichang–Lichuan sections of the Huhanrong mainline, the Chongqing–Lichuan line forms what was, until the completion of the

Xi'an–Chengdu high-speed railway Xi'an–Chengdu high-speed railway or Xi'an-Chengdu Passenger Dedicated Line, is a double track, dual-track, Railway electrification system, electrified, high-speed rail in China, high-speed rail line in Western China between Xi'an and Chengdu, ...

, the only high-speed rail connection between 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 tributar ...

and the rest of China. It carries numerous high-speed trains running between the cities of the

(

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 ...

and Chongqing) and various destinations in the central and eastern China. The trains are traveling on the Yuli line with the speed up to . It was said that when the Yuli railway and the relevant sections of the Huhanrong mainline are completed, one would be able to travel from Chongqing to Shanghai in just 10 hours. As of mid-2015, no service this fast seem to exist yet (there is no G-series train directly to Shanghai), but several D-series trains do make it from Chongqing to Shanghai in 13–15 hours.Chongqing North schedule
, as of May 2015 There are also G-series trains running from Chongqing to Beijing () in 12.5 hours (G309).

Construction history

Construction work started in the late 2008; the plans were for it to be completed within four years. As of August 2012, it was expected that the railway will be completed by the end of 2013. A tall pier of the railway's Caijiagou Bridge (), located in

Fuling District Fuling District ( zh, s=涪陵区 , t=涪陵區 , p=Fúlíng Qū) is a district in central Chongqing, China. As the second largest city in Chongqing, the area is known for '' zha cai'', a hot pickled mustard tuber, as well as serving as the locat ...

, is said to be the world's tallest railway

bridge pier The pier of a bridge is an intermediate support that holds the deck of the structure. It is a massive and permanent support, as opposed to the shoring, which is lighter and provides temporary support. History Until the advent of concrete and ...

. The railway's Hanjiatuo Bridge over the

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

is said to have the longest main span () among the world's double-track railway

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which wire rope, cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or wikt:stay#Etymology 3, stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, norm ...

s. Two sets of CRH2A high speed train-sets commenced testing of the completed Yuli railway line on December 11, 2013, from Chengdu to Chongqing. It was expected for the line to be opened by the end of December 2013. The Chongqing–Lichuan line was opened to conventional rail traffic at the end of December 2013, and full high speed services were expected to commence by the end of June 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chongqing-Lichuan railway 2013 establishments in China Railway lines opened in 2013 Railway lines in China Rail transport in Chongqing Rail transport in Hubei

Services

Construction history

See also

References