Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu High-Speed Railway
 Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu High-Speed Railway 沪汉蓉高速铁路 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Overview | |||
| Type | CRH | ||
| Locale | China | ||
| Termini |
Shanghai Hongqiao Chengdu | ||
| Operation | |||
| Owner | China Railway | ||
| Operator(s) | China Railway High-speed | ||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 2078 km | ||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Operating speed | 200 to 250 km/h | ||
| |||
Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu High-Speed Railway (Chinese: 沪汉蓉快速客运通道; pinyin: Hùhànróng Kuàisù Kèyùn Tōngdào), is a partially completed high-speed railway corridor in China. The Chinese name of the railway line, Huhanrong, is a combination of the abbreviations for Shanghai (沪, Hù), Wuhan (汉, Hàn), and Chengdu (蓉, Róng), three major cities along the line.
The Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu Passenger Dedicated Line is one of the Four east-west high-speed rail corridors outlined in China's national high-speed rail plan. From the east to the west, it will connect the major cities of Shanghai (a provincial-level municipality), Nanjing (the capital of Jiangsu), Hefei (the capital of Anhui), Wuhan (the capital of Hubei), Chongqing (a province-level municipality), and Chengdu (the capital of Sichuan). The total population of the four provinces and two municipalities served by this rail line is over 320 million (as of 2008).[1]
Components
The Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu Passenger Dedicated Line is divided into several sections, each one constructed on its own schedule. Several sections have already been completed, while the work on others still goes on.
Operational lines are marked with green background.
| Section | Description | Designed speed (km/h) |
Length (km) |
Construction start date |
Open date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu High-Speed Railway  |
HSR corridor through the Yangtze Valley, consisting of the Shanghai-Nanjing section of the Beijing-Shanghai PDL, and 7 mixed-use HSR segments connecting Nanjing, Hefei, Wuhan, Yichang, Lichuan, Chongqing, Suining & Chengdu. | 200-350 | 2078 | 2003-12-01 | 2013-12 |
| Shanghai–Nanjing Section (Shanghai–Nanjing Intercity Railway) |
High-speed railway connecting Shanghai and Nanjing | 350 | 301 | 2008-07-01 | 2010-07-01 |
| Nanjing–Hefei Section (Hefei–Nanjing High-Speed Railway) |
Mixed passenger & freight HSR connecting Nanjing & Hefei | 250 | 166 | 2005-06-11 | 2008-04-18 |
| Hefei–Wuhan Section (Hefei–Wuhan High-Speed Railway) |
Mixed passenger & freight HSR connecting Hefei & Wuhan | 250 | 351 | 2005-08-01 | 2008-12-31 |
| (Wuhan)Hankou-Yichang Section (Hankou-Yichang Railway) |
Mixed passenger & freight HSR connecting Wuhan & Yichang | 250 | 293 | 2008-09-17 | 2012-07-01 |
| Yichang-Lichuan Section (Yichang-Wanzhou Railway) |
Mixed passenger & freight HSR connecting Yichang & Lichuan[2] | 200 | 377 | 2003-12-01 | 2010-12-22 |
| Lichuan-Chongqing Section (Chongqing-Lichuan Railway) |
Mixed passenger & freight HSR connecting Lichuan & Chongqing | 200 | 264 | 2008-12-29 | 2013-12-28 |
| Chongqing-Suining Section (Suining-Chongqing Railway) |
Mixed passenger & freight HSR connecting Chongqing & Suining | 200 | 132 | 2009-01-18 | 2012–12-30 |
| Suining-Chengdu Section (Dazhou-Chengdu Railway) |
Mixed passenger & freight HSR connecting Suining & Chengdu. | 200 | 148 | 2005-05 | 2009-06-30 |
Shanghai to Nanjing
From Shanghai to Nanjing, the line is shared with the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway. The Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway is also part of the Beijing–Shanghai Passenger Dedicated Line, and opened on June 30, 2011. It has a designed operating speed of 300 km/h. Shanghai is an important railway hub in China as it is also the terminus of the Shanghai–Nanjing Intercity High-Speed Railway, which is an intercity railway that parallels all of this section, as well as the Shanghai–Kunming Passenger Dedicated Line.
Nanjing to Hefei
From Nanjing to Hefei, the line is called the Hefei–Nanjing Passenger Railway, with a designed speed of 250 km/h. At Hefei, a connection is available to the Hefei–Bengbu Passenger Railway, which is a branch line of the Beijing–Shanghai Passenger Dedicated Line.
Hefei to Wuhan
From Hefei to Wuhan, the line is called the Hefei–Wuhan Passenger Railway, with a designed speed of 250 km/h. At Wuhan, a connection is available to the Beijing–Hong Kong Passenger Dedicated Line, an important north-south railway line from Beijing to Guangzhou and Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Wuhan to Yichang
From Wuhan to Yichang, the line is called the Wuhan–Yichang Railway.
Yichang to Chongqing
Yichang–Wanzhou Railway
The Yichang–Wanzhou Railway connects the cities of Yichang, Lichuan, and Wanzhou. The Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu Passenger Dedicated Line only uses the Yichang to Lichuan portion of the Yichang–Wanzhou Railway.
Unlike other sections of the Shanghai-Chengdu railway, as of the beginning of 2014 the Yichang–Lichuan–Wanzhou does not yet have proper high-speed train service (D- or G-series). It is used extensively by "conventional" passenger trains (with the T-series being the fastest). The delay with the introduction of the high-speed service on this section is explained by the need to integrate signalling and other infrastructure.
Chongqing–Lichuan Railway
At Lichuan, the Chongqing–Lichuan Railway connects it with the city of Chongqing.
Chongqing to Chengdu
Suining–Chongqing Railway
The Suining–Chongqing Railway connects the cities of Chongqing and Suining. Its designed operating speed is 200 km/h.
Dazhou–Chengdu Railway
The Dazhou–Chengdu Railway is a railway connecting the cities of Dazhou, Suining, and Chengdu. The Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu Passenger Dedicated Line uses only the section from Suining to Chengdu. Chengdu marks the western terminus of the line.
Route Summary
While some of the section of the HHR lines parallel existing "regular" railways, others have been, or are being, constructed over new ground, where, due to difficult terrain, no rail service existed before, or only existed on much more circuitous routes.
In particular, until the completion of the Shanghai–Nanjing Intercity Railway, passenger trains between Shanghai and Nanjing ran on the "conventional", but greatly upgraded, Jinghu railway; conventional railways likewise have long existed along fairly direct routes between Nanjing and Hefei, or between Chongqing and Chengdu.
On the other hand, the Hefei-Wuhan Railway, which involved a significant amount of tunneling when passing through the Dabie Mountains, allowed to significantly shorten the railway distance between Nanjing and Wuhan. The Yichang-Lichuan-Wanzhou and Lichuan-Chongqing sections are routed through the mountainous areas of the southwestern Hubei and the eastern section Chongqing Municipality, where no railways or reliable highways previously existed,[3] providing a much more direct rail connection between the Sichuan Basin and Eastern China than previously existing ones (such as the one using the older Xiangyu Railway).
References
- ↑ See sources for population in List of Chinese administrative divisions by population; mostly it is the China Statistical Yearbook 2009.
- ↑ "Yiwan Railway: a project with 253 bridges and 159 tunnels". Xinhua. 2010-12-23. Retrieved 2010-12-23.
- ↑ See e.g. the characterization of the China National Highway 318 and China National Highway 209 as "unstable and unsafe" in: Yichang-Wanzhou Railway (SEIA) (Asian Development Bank, June 2003), p.6
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