The Longhai railway (), formerly romanized as the is a major arterial east–west railway in China. It runs from

Lianyungang Lianyungang () is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Jiangsu province of China, province, China. It borders Yancheng to its southeast, Huai'an and Suqian to its south, Xuzhou to its southwest, and the province of Shandong to its north. Its ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

, on the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea, also known as the North Sea, is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. Names It is one of four ...

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 ...

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 ...

, through the provinces of Jiangsu,

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

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 Gansu, covering a total length of . The line is named after Gansu, also known as ''Long'' () in Chinese and Lianyungang's previous name, ''Haizhou''.(Chinese)�
"西起陇原东到海，回头已是百年身--陇海铁路传略"
2011-04-29 The Longhai Line is one of the busiest Chinese railways. It has dual tracks throughout and electrification was completed in 2009.

History

The Longhai railway was built over the course of half a century by four different governments of China: the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

Beiyang Government The Beiyang government was the internationally recognized government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China between 1912 and 1928, based in Beijing. It was dominated by the generals of the Beiyang Army, giving it its name. B ...

Nationalist Government The Nationalist government, officially the National Government of the Republic of China, refers to the government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China from 1 July 1925 to 20 May 1948, led by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT ...

and the People's Republic. The first section of the railway, entirely within

, from

Kaifeng Kaifeng ( zh, s=开封, p=Kāifēng) is a prefecture-level city in east-Zhongyuan, central Henan province, China. It is one of the Historical capitals of China, Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and ...

Luoyang Luoyang ( zh, s=洛阳, t=洛陽, p=Luòyáng) is a city located in the confluence area of the Luo River and the Yellow River in the west of Henan province, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zheng ...

was built from 1905 to 1909 by a venture between the Qing dynasty and a Belgian joint-stock company backed by France and Russia. This line, known as the Bianliang–Luoyang railway, began operation on January 1, 1910. The line was extended eastward to

Xuzhou Xuzhou ( zh, s=徐州), also known as Pengcheng () in ancient times, is a major city in northwestern Jiangsu province, China. The city, with a recorded population of 9,083,790 at the 2020 Chinese census, 2020 census (3,135,660 of which lived in ...

in 1916 and to Haizhou in 1925 with Dutch financing. In the west, the line was extended to Lingbao, Henan, in 1927 with Belgian financing. After the

Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT) against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The purpose of the campaign was to reunify China prop ...

, the Nanjing-based Republican government took control of construction and extended the line further west to Tongguan,

, in 1931; Xi'an in 1934;

Baoji Baoji ( zh, s= , t= , p=Bǎojī; ) is a prefecture-level city in western Shaanxi province, People's Republic of China. Since the early 1990s, Baoji has been the second largest city in Shaanxi. Geography The prefecture-level city of Baoji had a ...

, Shaanxi, in 1936; and

Tianshui Tianshui is a prefecture-level city in Gansu province, China, and is the province's second-largest city (behind the provincial capital Lanzhou). Located in the southeast of the province, the city strides along the upper reaches of the Wei River a ...

, in 1945. The railway was the centerpiece of Japanese operations in Henan during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

, with the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

repeatedly attempting to seize the railway in 1938 in the Battle of Northern and Eastern Henan and later during Operation Ichi-go. Construction of the

section, entirely within Gansu, broke ground in May 1946 but was halted by

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

, then resumed under the People's Republic in April 1950 and was completed in July 1953. At this time, the entire Longhai railway entered into operation. In the late 1950s through early 1960s, new railways were built from Lanzhou to the west: the Lanxin railway to

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

(later connected to

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

) and the Lanqing railway to

Qinghai Qinghai is an inland Provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. It is the largest provinces of China, province of China (excluding autonomous regions) by area and has the third smallest population. Its capital and largest city is Xin ...

(later extended to Tibet). From 1956 to 1970, the section between

Zhengzhou Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan, China. Located in northern Henan, it is one of the nine National central city, national central cities in China, and serves as the political, economic, technological, and educational center of the province. Th ...

, Henan, and

, Shaanxi, was upgraded to the dual-track line. During the same time, in Henan the line near

Sanmenxia Sanmenxia ( zh, s= , t= , p=Sānménxiá; Postal romanization, postal: Sanmenhsia) is a prefecture-level city in the west of Henan, Henan Province, China. The westernmost prefecture-level city in Henan, Sanmenxia borders Luoyang to the east, Nanya ...

was re-routed due to the Sanmenxia Reservoir Project. The Zhengzhou to

Shangqiu Shangqiu ( zh, ), Postal romanization, alternately romanized as Shangkiu, is a city in eastern Henan province, Central China. It borders Kaifeng to the northwest, Zhoukou to the southwest, and the provinces of Shandong and Anhui to the northeast ...

section was converted to dual-track in 1980. The railway is a central section in the New Eurasian Land Bridge.

Cities and rail junctions along route

;

* Xinyi: Jiaozhou–Xinyi railway, Xinyi–Changxing railway *

: Beijing-Shanghai railway ;

* Dangshan ;

: Beijing–Kowloon railway *

: Beijing–Guangzhou railway *

Jiaozuo–Liuzhou railway The Jiaozuo–Liuzhou railway or Jiaoliu railway (), is a major trunkline railroad in China between Jiaozuo in central China and Liuzhou in southern China. The line is long and runs north–south through four provinces.(Chinese焦柳铁路简� ...

;

* Tongguan: Datong–Puzhou railway * Mengyuan *

Weinan Weinan ( zh, s=渭南 , p=Wèinán) is a prefecture-level city in east-Guanzhong, central Shaanxi, Shaanxi province, northwest China. The city lies on the lower section of the Wei River confluence into the Yellow River, about east of the provinc ...

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 ...

: Nanjing–Xian railway, Houma–Xian railway, Xi'an–Ankang railway *

Xianyang Xianyang ( zh, s=咸阳 , p=Xiányáng) is a prefecture-level city in central Shaanxi province, situated on the Wei River a few kilometers upstream (west) from the provincial capital of Xi'an. Once the capital of the Qin dynasty, it is now int ...

: Xianyang–Tongchuan railway *

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� ...

;

Dingxi Dingxi ( zh, c=定西 , p=Dìngxī), also known as Longyou ( zh, c=陇右, p=Lǒngyòu) is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of Gansu province, People's Republic of China. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,524,097 inhabitants, of ...

: Lanzhou–Xinjiang railway, Lanzhou–Qinghai railway, Baotou–Lanzhou railway

High-speed rail line parallel to the Longhai

The

Xuzhou–Lanzhou high-speed railway The Eurasia Continental Bridge corridor () is a high-speed rail corridor connecting Lianyungang, a port in northern Jiangsu province, to Ürümqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang. The corridor passes through the cities of Xuzhou (Jiangsu), Zheng ...

, a

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...

line, has been built parallel to the Longhai line. The Zhengzhou–Xi'an section opened in February 2010. The last section of the corridor, the Baoji–Lanzhou high-speed railway was completed on 9 July 2017. The corridor was extended with the opening in February 2021 of the Lianyungang–Xuzhou high-speed railway, which runs parallel to the Longhai line between Xuzhou and Lianyungang.

Gallery

File:Baoji Railway Station, 1981 (SIK 03-060336).jpg, Station platform at

in 1981 File:T165 at xian.jpg, Longhai railway outside the

city walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as curtain walls with to ...

File:SS7E 0086.jpg, A SS7E

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a Battery (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...

on the electrified Longhai railway File:20080801191324 - 华山站.jpg, Station platform at Huashan File:Xianyang Platform.jpg, Railway tracks in

File:Longhai Railway 01.jpg, Railway tracks in

File:T165 at Weinan2.jpg,

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 ...

–

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

train near

File:Longhai railway in east Zhengzhou.jpg, The railway in east

References

{{Transport in China Railway lines in China Rail transport in Jiangsu Rail transport in Anhui Rail transport in Henan Rail transport in Shaanxi Rail transport in Gansu Railway lines opened in 1910

History

Cities and rail junctions along route

High-speed rail line parallel to the Longhai

Gallery

See also

References