Lanzhou–Chongqing railway or Lanyu railway (, "Lan" and "Yu" being the abbreviations for Lanzhou and Chongqing) is a higher-speed railway in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

connecting

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

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 ...

. Construction started in 2010, last segment of the railway was opened for service in September 2017. The line allows trains to travel between Chongqing and Lanzhou,

Gansu 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 ...

via

Nanchong Nanchong ( zh, c=南充 , p=Nánchōng , w=Nan-ch'ung; Sichuanese: lan2cong1) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of Sichuan province, China, with an area of . At the 2020 census it was home to 5,607,565 people, of whom 1,936,534 liv ...

and

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 ...

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 ...

Introduction

With a total length of , of which is located within Gansu Province, in addition to the construction of a branch to Nanchong and Guang'an that is long. It was built as a new double line electrified railway, with freight train capable of up to , passenger trains traveling at . The capacity of the line is expected at 50 train pairs per day and 50,000,000 tonnes of freight per year. The railway is designed to permit double-stack

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

operations. Lanzhou–Chongqing railway project was estimated to need a total investment of 77.4 billion yuan, of which the Gansu Provincial Government invested about 43 billion yuan, with the rest of the funding was coming from a

Ministry of Railways A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructure ...

, Sichuan and Chongqing joint construction effort. The construction period was expected to take 6 years. By the completion of the railway rail transport from Lanzhou and Chongqing is shortened from to , conventional train running time is reduced to 7 hours from 17.5 hours. Fast trains will complete the route in 5.5 hours. Recent high speed rail reforms has also meant direct

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 ...

-Lanzhou and Chongqing-

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 ...

services will use a combination of

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, ...

and Chongqing–Lanzhou high-speed railway from where they meet at

. This will reduce the need for a separate direct Chongqing-Xi'an or Chengdu-Lanzhou line. Because of hilly terrain between Guangyuan and Lanzhou on of railway there are 285 bridges totaling (13% of the route) and 178 tunnels totaling (63% of the route). Twelve of the tunnels will exceed in length, while the longest tunnel, West Qinling Tunnel, measures .

Route

Lanzhou–Chongqing railway runs west out of Lanzhou City through

Yuzhong County Yuzhong County () is a county of Gansu Province, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China (PR ...

, Weiyuan County,

Min County Min County or Minxian is administratively under the control of the prefecture-level city of Dingxi, in the south of Gansu province, China. In ancient times, it was known as Lintao County due to its location along the Tao River. It was founded as ...

Tanchang County Tanchang (), also pronounced Dàngchāng, is a county in the south of Gansu province, China. It is the westernmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Longnan. In 2017 its population was 319,400 people. History During the 4th- ...

Longnan City Longnan ( zh, t= , s= , p=Lǒngnán , l="south of Mount Long") is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of Gansu province in China. It borders Sichuan on its south and Shaanxi on its east. As of the 2020 Chinese census, the population of the ...

. Crossing into

Sichuan Province Sichuan is a Provinces of China, 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 capita ...

territory, it then travels by

Cangxi County Cangxi County () is a county of northeastern Sichuan Province, China, located along the upper reaches of the Jialing River. It is under the administration of Guangyuan City. The population in 2020 was 512,617. Cangxi produces red kiwifruit, a pro ...

Langzhong Langzhong (formerly known as Paoning) is a county-level city in northeastern Sichuan province, China, located on the middle reaches of the Jialing River. It is administered as part of the prefecture-level city of Nanchong. Langzhong has a total ...

Nanbu County Nanbu County () is a county of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of Nanchong Nanchong ( zh, c=南充 , p=Nánchōng , w=Nan-ch'ung; Sichuanese: lan2cong1) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of Sichuan provinc ...

. Finally it enters Chongqing City via

Hechuan District Hechuan () is a district in the northern part of Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered ...

and

Beibei District Beibei District () is a district in the Chongqing municipality, People's Republic of China. A satellite town in the north of central Chongqing, Beibei got its name because of the huge rock that extends to the middle of Jialing River, and is ...

before terminating at Chongqing North railway station.

History

* August 1, 2008, West Qinling Tunnel as the first part of the project is opened for tender and bidding started, marking the start of Lanzhou–Chongqing railway construction. * July 19, 2014, West Qinling Tunnel construction is completed. * August 8, 2014, Nanchong East station branch opens with EMU services to Chengdu East * January 1, 2015, of the southern end of the project is opened. This allows for Chongqing to Hechuan EMU services in just 20 minutes. * December 26, 2015, The southern section of the line, from Chongqing to

, opened in December 2015. Initially with only conventional rail services. * May 15, 2016, High speed EMU services commence with train D5131 running from Chongqing to Guangyuan station in a total of 3 hours 06 minutes. It ran at a maximum speed of up to . * December 26, 2016, The section between

and Minxian,

was completed in December 2016. However, due to Minxian's small size and remote location, services will only commence to

Longnan Longnan ( zh, t= , s= , p=Lǒngnán , l="south of Mount Long") is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of Gansu province in China. It borders Sichuan on its south and Shaanxi on its east. As of the 2020 Chinese census, the population of the ...

. * September 29, 2017, The section between Minxian,

and

was completed in September 2017.

Incidents

In October 2011, during the construction of the railway, 21 railway workers were killed when the vehicle they were traveling in overturned in

Lintao County Lintao County () is administratively under the control of Dingxi, Gansu province, China. History Pottery from the Majiayao culture (3300 to 2000 BC) has been found in Lintao. Until the 20th century, Lintao was known as Didao (). The Battle of ...

. Seven other workers were injured.

References

External links

*
Lanzhou–Chongqing Railway Development Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lanzhou-Chongqing Railway Railway lines in China Rail transport in Chongqing Rail transport in Gansu Rail transport in Sichuan 25 kV AC railway electrification