Beijing–Harbin railway

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Beijing–Harbin railway 京哈铁路
A CRH5 passing the Grand Canal Bridge in Tongzhou District, Beijing in 2021
Technical
Line length	1,249 km (776 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map Legend 0 km Beijing 5 km Beijing East 151 km 208 km Luan County 276 km Beidaihe 299 km Qinhuangdao 315 km Shanhaiguan 437 km Huludao North 480 km Jinzhou South 549 km Panjin North 635 km Liaozhong 700 km Shenyang 703 km Shenyang North 771 km Tieling 889 km Siping 942 km Gongzhuling 1003 km Changchun 1085 km 1249 km Harbin

Y510 from Qinhuangdao

The Beijing–Harbin railway, named the Jingha Railway, (simplified Chinese: 京哈铁路; traditional Chinese: 京哈鐵路; pinyin: Jīnghā Tiělù) is the railway that connects Beijing with Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province. It spans 1,249 km (776 mi). It is a very prominent route in the provinces of northeastern China.

History[]

Steam locomotive 221 of the Peking−Mukden Railway. After 1949 these locomotives were known as the JF7-class.

Construction of the section between Tangshan and Tianjin began in 1881 as the Kaiping Tramway. This section is the second-oldest railway in China and the oldest still in use. (The oldest railway in China was the Woosung Railway in Shanghai, built in 1876 but dismantled and removed to Taiwan the next year.) Later this section was extended west to Beijing and east to Shanhaiguan. It was further extended to the east and reached Mukden (modern Shenyang) in Fengtian province (modern Liaoning) by 1912.

The railroad operated under or was known by several names, including:

• the Imperial Railroad of North China,
• the Guanneiwai Tielu (lit. "Shanhaiguan Inner & Outer Railway"),
• the Jingfeng Railway, called Peking−Mukden Railway in English, from August 1907 to 1928,
• the Pingfeng Railway, called Peiping−Mukden Railway in English, from 1928 to April 1929,
• the Beining Railway, from April 1929 to 1932.

Under the late Qing and during the early Republic, it was administered by and provided much of the revenue for the Ministry of Posts and Communications. It is now administered by the Ministry of Railways for the People's Republic of China.

The section from Shenyang to Harbin used to be a part of the South Manchuria branch of the Chinese Eastern Railway built by the Russian Empire from 1898 to 1902. Later, the section from Changchun to Shenyang became part of the Japanese-owned South Manchuria Railway. There used to be no linking line between the Beining Railway and the South Manchuria Railway. A bridge was built for the South Manchuria Railway to cross the Beining Railway. The Huanggutun Incident took place on June 4, 1928 right at this bridge, several kilometres east of the Huanggutun railway station on the Beining Railway.

After the Japanese occupation of Manchuria and the subsequent establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo, the section of the line east of Shanhaiguan - being within the territory of Manchukuo – was separated from the Beining Railway, becoming the of the Manchukuo National Railway. In the Japanese-occupied territory under the authority of the collaborationist Provisional Government of the Republic of China, a new company was set up to manage railways and bus transportation in northern China (excluding the puppet states of Manchukuo and Mengjiang). Called the North China Transportation Company, it was formed in 1938 through the nationalisation of all railways in the territory of the Provisional Government, including the Beining Railway. During the existence of the NCTC, the truncated Beining Line was known as the Beishan Line (from its termini, Beijing and Shanhaiguan). The NCTC was liquidated after Japan's defeat in the Pacific War, and its operations were taken over by the Republic of China Railway in 1945; this became the China Railway after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

After 1949, the Beining Railway, the Shenyang−Changchun section of the South Manchuria Railway's Renkyō Line, and the Manchukuo National Railway's Changchun–Harbin were merged and named the Jingha Railway.

Before 2007, the Beijing–Harbin railway shared the route with the Beijing–Shanghai railway from Beijing to Tianjin, and then to Qinhuangdao then continuing to Harbin. The railway was merged with the Beijing–Qinhuangdao railway, bypassing Tianjin. The remaining section between Tianjin and Qinhuangdao was renamed into the Tianjin–Shanhaiguan railway.

Current status[]

An HXD3D train in Harbin.

As of December 31, 2006, it uses the Beijing–Qinhuangdao railway, the Qinhuangdao–Shenyang high-speed railway, and the Shenyang-Harbin portion of the .

Important cities en route[]

• Beijing
• Hebei Province:Tangshan, Qinhuangdao
• Liaoning Province:Huludao, Jinzhou, Shenyang, Tieling
• Jilin Province:Siping, Changchun
• Heilongjiang Province:Harbin

Mileage[]

See also[]

• Beijing–Harbin high-speed railway High-speed railway line running parallel to the line.
• Rail transport in the People's Republic of China
• List of railways in China

External links[]

• Media related to Beijing-Harbin Railway at Wikimedia Commons
• Photo of Permit to travel on the Chinese Railways between Harbin and Shanghai, 1920s