Xi'an–Chengdu high-speed railway or Xi'an-Chengdu Passenger Dedicated Line, is a dual-track, electrified, high-speed rail line in

Western China Western China ( zh, s=中国西部, l=, labels=no or zh, s=华西, l=, labels=no) is the west of China. It consists of Southwestern China and Northwestern China. In the definition of the Chinese government, Western China covers six provinces ...

between

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

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 ...

, respectively the provincial capitals of

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 ...

and

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 ...

. This line, which commenced operations on 6 December 2017, runs through Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces and accommodates trains traveling at speeds up to . Travel time between the two provincial capitals was reduced from 16 to less than three hours. The project was approved by the State Development and Planning Commission in October 2010. Construction of the Sichuan section of the railway started on November 10, 2010, and of the Shaanxi section, on October 27, 2012. The line traverses the rugged Qin and

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 connects the Guanzhong Plains with 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 ...

. The line is part of the Beijing–Kunming corridor.

Route

The high-speed rail line connects Xian, in the

Wei River The Wei River () is a major river in west-central China's Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. It is the largest tributary of the Yellow River and very important in the early development of Chinese civilization. In ancient times, such as in the Records ...

Valley,

Hanzhong Hanzhong ( zh, s= , t= , l=middle of the Han River (Hubei), Han River; abbreviation: Han) is a prefecture-level city in Southern Shaanxi, the southwest of Shaanxi, Shaanxi province, China, bordering the provinces of Sichuan to the south and Gans ...

, in the Han River Valley, 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 ...

Jiangyou Jiangyou () is a Chinese county-level city located in Mianyang, Sichuan. The city proper is subdivided into four urban districts and has jurisdiction over 21 towns, and 19 rural townships. It is the hometown of Li Bai, a leading Tang dynasty p ...

and

in the Sichuan Basin. In the Qin Mountains, it has of tunnels, including six over in length. The railway passes under ecologically sensitive areas including the Taibaishan and Hanzhong Crested Ibis National Nature Reserves, which are home to the

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

giant panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white animal coat, coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. ...

, golden snub-nosed monkey,

takin The takin (''Budorcas taxicolor''; ), also called cattle chamois or gnu goat, is a large species of ungulate of the subfamily Caprinae found in the eastern Himalayas. It includes four subspecies: the Mishmi takin (''B. t. taxicolor''), the golde ...

and

crested ibis The crested ibis (''Nipponia nippon''), also known as the Japanese crested ibis, or Asian crested ibis, is a species of ibis, native to eastern Asia. It is the only member of the genus ''Nipponia''. In Japan, where it has special cultural signi ...

. Over much of its length, the Xi'an–Chengdu Passenger Dedicated Line largely parallels existing railways: the

Yangpingguan–Ankang railway The Yangpingguan–Ankang railway or Yang'an railway (), is a single-track, electrified railroad in China between Yangpingguan and Ankang in southern Shaanxi Province. The line, in length, follows the upper reaches of the Han River and wa ...

in southwestern Shaanxi (between Hanzhong and the

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" '' ...

junction), and the

Baoji–Chengdu railway The Baoji–Chengdu railway, Bao–Cheng railway or Bao–Cheng Line was formerly designed as a rail line that connects Tianshui and Chengdu called Tianshui–Chengdu railway ( zh, s=天水—成都铁路, t=天水—成都鐵路, p=Tiānshuǐ Ch� ...

in Sichuan (from Yangpingguan to Chengdu). However, the section from Xi'an to Hanzhong, crossing in tunnels under the Qin Mountains, follows an entirely new direct route. High speed rail reforms meant direct Chengdu-Lanzhou and Chongqing-Xi'an services would use a combination of Xi'an–Chengdu high-speed railway and Chongqing–Lanzhou railway from where they met at

. This would negate the need to build a separate direct Chongqing-Xi'an or Chengdu-Lanzhou lines. However, with the announcement of the expanded 8+8 high speed rail grid, the two originally planned lines were reinstated in the masterplan. The Chengdu-Xi'an HSR have to cross the Qin Mountains; to achieve that, trains must climb continuously at 2.5% inclination (2.5 meters up per 100 meters run) for 47 kilometers. Since most HSR trains with 250 km/h maximum speed are not equipped with sufficient redundant power to maintain max speed climbing, trains scheduled to run between Chengdu and Xi'an using 250 km/h max speed equipments have to reserve extra time for the tunnel. However, for trains that continue to Beijing via Xi'an-Zhengzhou High Speed Rail and Guangzhou-Beijing High Speed Rail, an equipment capable of 350 km/h operations must be utilized to reach regular speed on the Zhengzhou-Beijing part. With redundant power equipped for 350 km/h operations, they lose less speed going up the tunnel, thus spending less time; this has reportedly caused these trains to have to reduce speed to maintain proper separation.

History

* Nov. 1, 2010: The Xi'an–Chengdu high-speed railway project received approval from the State Development and Planning Commission."China plans high-speed rail link for Chengdu-Xi'an" ''A.P.''
2010-11-02

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xi'an-Chengdu High-Speed Railway High-speed railway lines in China Rail transport in Shaanxi Rail transport in Sichuan