The Harbin–Qiqihar intercity railway, also known as the Haqi Passenger Dedicated Line, is China’s most northerly high-speed railway. It opened for revenue service on 17 August 2015, connecting the two principal cities in

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Us ...

province,

Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...

and

Qiqihar Qiqihar (also spelled Tsitsihar) 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, w ...

. Operating at up to , the high-speed trains have cut the fastest journey time between the cities from 3 h to 85 min. Under construction since 2009, the 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, ''Sungari'') is one of the primary rivers of China, and the longest tributary of the Amur. It flows about from Changbai Mountains on the China–North Korea border through China's northe ...

. 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 Trans-Siberian Railway Harbin–Manzhouli railway, abbreviated as the Binzhou Railway (), is a double-track electrified trunk railway in Northeast China between Harbin and Manzhouli on the Russian border, where it connects to the Trans-Siberian ...

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 ...

before entering

Zhaodong Zhaodong () is a city of more than 100,000 inhabitants in southwestern Heilongjiang province, China. It is the southernmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Suihua, the center of which is located around to the northeast and ...

. Afterwards it continues beside the Harbin–Manzhouli railway north-west to Anda and

Daqing Daqing () is a prefecture-level city in the west of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China. The name literally means "Great Celebration" and refers to the tenth anniversary of the PRC. Daqing is known as the "Oil Capital of China" a ...

finally diverging to terminate in Qiqihar.

Stations

, Harbin North,

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 ...

, 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