Rail Transport in China International LinksRail Transport in China International LinksChina is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The country's UIC code is 33. Chinese railways has adopted and begun to implement the GSM-R wireless rail communications standard. China is also a signatory to the Trans-Asian Railway Network Agreement, an initiative of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific to promote the integration of railway networks across Europe and Asia. Rail Transport in China Current and Past Links International passenger train services are available to destinations in:
Train services to Hong Kong terminate at the Hung Hom station in Kowloon. Within Hong Kong the cross-boundary services use the tracks of the East Rail line. There are three through-train routes, Beijing line (to/from Beijing), Shanghai line (to/from Shanghai) and Guangdong line (to/from Zhaoqing and Guangzhou East). An express train service linking Hong Kong and Guangzhou entered service in September 2018. This new express rail line will reduced the train travel time between Hong Kong and Guangzhou from 2 hours to 1 hour. China's International Links with North Korea There are rail crossings along the border with North Korea at Dandong, Ji'an and Tumen. Dandong, in Liaoning Province, is 277 km (172 mi) by regular train and 223 km (139 mi) by CHR south of Shenyang at the mouth of the Yalu River across from Sinuiju in North Korea's North Pyongan Province. This is the most heavily used rail connection between the two countries. Ji'an, upstream on the Yalu in Jilin Province and 400 km (250 mi) by rail from Siping, connects to Manpo in Chagang Province. Tumen, also in Jilin and 527 km (327 mi) east of Changchun is located across the Tumen River from Namyang, North Hamgyong Province. There are four weekly trains with hard and soft sleepers from Beijing to Pyongyang, as well as a weekly carriage attached to the Vostok train from Moscow via Harbin, Shenyang and Dandong. China's International Links with Russia China's three rail crossings into Russia are all located along the eastern section of the border between the two countries. The crossings at Manzhouli and Suifenhe are at either ends of the Trans-Manchurian Railway, which was a shortcut for the Trans-Siberian Railway built through northeastern China in the early 1900s. Manzhouli, in the Hulunbuir region of northern Inner Mongolia, is China's busiest inland port. It borders Zabaykalsk in Zabaykalsky Krai of Russia's Transbaikal region and handles the bulk of the bilateral freight trade and one of the Beijing-Moscow passenger train routes. Suifenhe, in southern Heilongjiang Province, borders the town of Pogranichny in Primorsky Krai of the Russian Far East. The rail station on the Russian's side is called Grodekovo. Freight trains from Harbin to Khabarovsk and Vladisvostok pass through Suifenhe. As of November 2008, there was no through passenger service, but one could travel along this route with transfers in Suifenhe, Grodekovo and Ussuriysk. A third rail connection is located further south at Hunchun in eastern Jilin Province bordering Kraskino, near the southwest tip of Primorsky Krai. The station on the Russian side, called Makhalino, is located on the Ussuriysk-Khasan-North Korean border line, about 41 km (25 mi) from Khasan. This border crossing began operating in February 2000, and saw only a minor amount of traffic (678 railcars of lumber) over the next two years. The line was closed in 2002-2003, reopened in 2003, but, as of the summer of 2004, it was still reported as seeing little traffic. The line was closed between 2004 and 2013. As of 2011-2012, plans existed for reopening it, primarily to be used for shipping coal and mineral ores from Russia to China. The border crossing reopened, initially in a trial mode, in 2013. There are two weekly passenger trains in each direction between Beijing and Moscow. The No. 19/20 trains travel 8,961 kilometres (5,568 mi) via Harbin, Manzhouli and the Trans-Siberian Railway. The No. 3/4 trains, take a shorter route of 7,622 kilometres (4,736 mi), through Mongolia via the Trans-Mongolian Railway and has the two-berth deluxe soft sleeper cars. Both journeys are among the longest train services in the world. China's International Links with Mongolia The lone rail connection with Mongolia's railways is located at Erenhot, in Xilingol League of central Inner Mongolia, which borders Zamyn-Üüd in Mongolia's Dornogovi Province. There are two trains every week departing from Beijing and Hohhot to Ulaanbaatar, along with five trains per week from Erenhot. As with rail service to Russia, trains from China need to change bogies in Erenhot, since Mongolia uses broad gauge. China's International Links with Kazakhstan There are two rail crossings on the China-Kazakhstan border, at Alashankou and Khorgas, both located in the northern part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. They are the only international rail outlets in western China. At Alashankou, in the Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, the Northern Xinjiang railway passes through the Dzungarian Gate to the town of Dostyk, in Kazkahstan's Almaty Province and connects to Qazaqstan Temir Zholy (Kazakhstan's railway system). This crossing, opened in 1990, forms a New Eurasian Land Bridge, allowing trains from Lianyungang on the East China Sea to reach Rotterdam on the North Sea. There are two weekly passenger trains (one Kazakh and one Chinese) from Almaty to Ürümqi, the capital of Xinjiang. There are differing reports on which of the two is more comfortable, and the Chinese train is generally of a higher standard than the Kazakh train. Khorgas, in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, is located southwest of Alashankou in the Ili Valley. The town on the Kazakh side of the border in Almaty Province, has the same name, Korgas. Here, the Jinghe-Yining-Khorgas railway, a 286-km fork off the main Northern Xinjiang line built in 2009, meets the Zhetigen-Korgas railway, a 239-km branch from the Turkestan-Siberian Railway completed by Kazakhstan in 2011. The Khorgas crossing, opened in December 2012, provides a more direct route from Ürümqi to Almaty. China's International Links with Vietnam There are two rail connections between China and Vietnam, at the Friendship Pass and Hekou. At the Friendship Pass on the border between Pingxiang, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Ð?ng Ðang in Vietnam's L?ng Son province, the Hunan-Guangxi railway connects to the dual gauge Hanoi-Ð?ng Ðang Line. The crossing, opened in 1955, has displaced the older Hekou crossing as the primary rail link between the two countries. There are twice weekly trains from Beijing to Hanoi and both traverse the Friendship Pass. The trains consist of a typical T style Chinese express from Beijing to Ð?ng Ðang. The train may require passengers to detrain in Nanning for 5 hours (especially on the northbound service), a lounge area with reclining chairs is available for Soft Sleeper passengers. At Hekou, the narrow-gauge Kunming-Hai Phong railway from Kunming, in Yunnan Province crosses into Vietnam's Lào Cai province. This line, also known as the Yunnan-Vietnam railway, was built by France from 1904 to 1910 though rugged terrain. Cross-border service on this line ceased in late 2000, but freight trains have kept this crossing operational. China's International Links with Laos A railway connecting Kunming to the border with Laos is under construction, which connects to another under construction line linking the border to the Lao capital Vientiane, which already has a real link to Thailand. The line was opened on December 3, 2021 at the 60th anniversary of China-Laos relations. Proposed International Rail Links In recent years, China has been actively exploring and promoting the extension of its railway network to neighboring countries and distant regions including the Russian Far East, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East and even North America. China's International Links with Macau Macau SAR is currently served by Macau Light Rail Transit completed in 2019. A "Hengqin Branch Line" is planned for the network, which will connect the network directly to Hengqin, part of Zhuhai in Guangdong Province. The extension line is planned to connect with Guangzhou-Zhuhai intercity railway at the Hengqin station which is part of its first phase extension project that is scheduled to complete in year 2018, and would facilitate seamless cross border rail transit. Additionally, the city of Guangzhou, Zhongshan, and Zhuhai have proposed the construction of a new "Guangzhou-Zhongshan-Zhuhai-Macau Intercity Railways" which could further connectivity on the west bank of Pearl River Delta. China's International Links with Russian Far East In November 2008, the transport ministries of Russia and the China signed an agreement to build one more link between the railway systems of the two countries. One project involves the Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye railway bridge across the Heilongjiang (Amur) River, connecting Tongjiang in Heilongjiang Province with Nizhneleninskoye, a village in Russia's Jewish Autonomous Oblast. The project construction began in 2014 and was estimated to be complete in year 2016, however the project had been halted by funding problems and construction delay by Russian side. Additional funding have been injected to the project in year 2017 which resolved the funding problem, and the project is currently estimated to be complete in year 2018. Additionally, a high speed rail link between Hunchun and Vladivostok have been proposed and discussed. China's International Links with Mongolia In October 2014, the Mongolian parliament approved two standard gauge cross-border railways to China. One line would run 240 kilometres (150 mi) from the Tavan Tolgoi coalfields of Ömnögovi Province to the border at Gashuun Suukhait and cross into China at Ganqimaodu in Urad Middle Banner, part of Inner Mongolia's Bayan Nur Municipality. The other would run from central Mongolia to Bichigt in Sükhbaatar Province and cross into China at Zhuengadabuqi of East Ujimqin Banner, under Inner Mongolia's Xilingol League. China's International Links with Central Asia Since 1997, the governments of China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have discussed the building of a 476 kilometres (296 mi) railway across the Tian Shan mountains from Kashgar in the western Tarim Basin of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to the Ferghana Valley via southern Kyrgyzstan. In March 2013, the China Road and Bridge Corp., an engineering firm, submitted a feasibility study to the Kyrgyz government, which found the project to be too expensive. In December 2013, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev expressed his preference for an alternative line that would connect the northern and southern halves of the country. On May 5, 2014, the Export-Import Bank of China lent Uzbekistan $350 million for the construction of a railway through the Kamchik Pass that would connect the Fergana Valley with the rest of Uzbekistan. On May 12, 2014, China's Paramount leader Xi Jinping and Turkmenistan's president Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov signed a declaration to study the possibility of inviting Chinese companies to build a cross-border railway linking the two countries. On May 22, 2014, the Foreign Minister of Kyrgyzstan reportedly suggested inviting China to join in another regional railway project linking Russia, Central Asian states and the Persian Gulf. China's International Links with South Asia China and Nepal signed a series of agreements including a railway link connecting Kathmandu to China's railway network in 2018. The China-Nepal Railway will connect Kathmandu and Shigatse, Tibet. Survey of the Kerung-Kathmandu section will be completed by early 2019, and construction is expected to be completed in six years. Since 2007, Chinese and Pakistani authorities have explored the possibility of building the Khunjerab Railway, which would cross the Karakorum Mountains and connect Kashgar with Havelian in the Abbottabad District of northern Pakistan. In June 2013, the Pakistani government indicated that the proposed railway could be extended to the Port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea. As of February 2014, however, Chinese rail experts said the railway was unlikely to be built in the near term. Indian and Chinese rail authorities have in several occasions expressed interest in initiating a high-speed rail link that would link Kolkata with Kunming, China via Myanmar. The rail link would utilise the under construction railway from Manipur, India to Myanmar and the Dali-Ruili railway under construction in western Yunnan Province. China's Longest Train Journeys Some of the world's longest train journeys by distance travel through China. Beijing-Moscow trains via Harbin (No. 19-20, 8984 km, 144 hours) and Ulan Bator (No. 3-4, 7826 km, 131 hours) are respectively the second and third longest regularly scheduled passenger trains in the world. Only the Moscow-Vladivostok train (9259 km, 178 hours) is longer. Within China, the longest passenger train services are the Z264-Z265 Guangzhou-Lhasa (4980 km, 54 1/2 hours), T206/3-T204/5 Shanghai-Yining (4742 km, 55 2/3 hours), Z136/7-Z138/5 Guangzhou-Ürümqi (4684 km, 49 1/2 hours) and K1121 Harbin-Haikou (4458 km, 65 3/4 hours). In addition, the longest train journey in China by time is K2288/2285 from Changchun to Kunming, with a duration of 68 hours. The G/403/405 Beijing West - Kunming South train (2760 km, 10 3/4 hours), became the longest high-speed rail service in the world. The world's longest freight rail service runs from Yiwu, Zhejiang Province in eastern China to Madrid, Spain, a journey of 13,000 km (8,100 mi) over three weeks. China's Operational Statistics Detail Major Operators: China State Railway Group Company, Limited Ridership: 3.660 billion passenger trips Passenger km: 1,470.66 billion passenger-kilometres Freight: 4.389 billion tonnes China System Length Total: 146,000 km (91,000 mi)[a] Double Track: 83,000 km (52,000 mi) Electrified: 100,000 km (62,000 mi) High-Speed: 35,000 km (22,000 mi) China Track Gauge China Rail Transport Main Track: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1/2 in) China Rail Transport High-Speed Track: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1/2 in) 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1/2 in) standard gauge 79,685 kilometres (49,514 mi) (1998) 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3/8 in) metre gauge 466 kilometres (290 mi) 750 mm (2 ft 5+1/2 in) 3,600 kilometres (2,200 mi) (1998 est.) China's Track Features China Rail Transport Number of Tunnels: 16,084 (2019) China Rail Transport Tunnel Length: 18,041 kilometres (11,210 mi) (2019) China Rail Transport Longest Tunnel: Songshanhu Tunnel 38.813 kilometres (24.117 mi) China Rail Transport Number of Bridges: 47,524 (2008) China Rail Transport Longest Bridge: Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge 164.8 kilometres (102.4 mi) China Rail Transport Number of Train Stations: 5,470 (2008) China Rail Transport Highest Elevation: 5,072 metres (16,640 ft) at Tanggula Pass Notes [a] ^ There is a significant discrepancy in the total length of China's railways reported by China Statistical Yearbook (120,970 km (75,170 mi) at year end 2015) and the CIA Factbook (191,270 km (118,850 mi) in 2014). The CIA Factbook figure is based on "the total length of the railway network and of its component parts." The Statistical Yearbook figure includes "the total length of the trunk line for passenger and freight transportation in full operation or temporary operation" and measures the actual route distance between the midpoints of railway stations. Any double-tracked route or route with a return track of shorter distance is counted using the length of the original route. The length of any return tracks, other tracks within stations, maintenance and service tracks (such as those used to turn trains around), tracks of fork lines, special purpose lines and non-revenue connecting lines are excluded. The Statistical Yearbook provides cross-year and cross-regional breakdowns of railway length and its figures are presented in China railway articles. More on China Trains: Rail Transport in China More on China Trains: China Track Network - China Train Track Length More on China Trains: China Mainline Corridors - Sixteen Major Rail Corridors More on China Trains: China Train Stations - Rail Transport in China Train Stations More on China Trains: Classes of Service - Rail Transport in China Classes of Service More on China Trains: Rail Transport in China International Links More on China Trains: At the beginning of the 21st century China had no high-speed railways More on China Trains: China High-Speed Railway ''Eight Vertical Lines and Eight Horizontal Lines'' | |||||
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