Dazhou–Chengdu Railway
Dazhou–Chengdu Railway or Dacheng Railway (simplified Chinese: 达成铁路; traditional Chinese: 達成鐵路; pinyin: dáchéng tiělù), is a double-track, electrified railroad in Sichuan Province of southwest China. The railway is named after its two terminal cities Chengdu and Dazhou. The line has a total length of 403 km (250 mi) and opened in 1997. Other cities and towns along the route include Suining and Nanchong. The line is owned and operated by the Dacheng Railway Company Limited, a 70-30 joint venture between the Ministry of Railways and Sichuan Provincial Government.[1]
Route
The Dacheng-Chengdu Railway runs from Chengdu, the provincial capital in central Sichuan to Sanhui Township of Qu County, Dazhou Municipality in eastern Sichuan. The Dacheng Line forms an important link in China's national railway network, connecting the Baoji-Chengdu and Chengdu-Kunming Railways in the west with the Suining−Chongqing Railway in the center and Xiangyang-Chongqing Railway in the east. It is a major railway outlet for the Sichuan Basin, and a section of the Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu High-Speed Railway. High-speed train service between Chengdu and Chongqing run on the Dazhou−Chengdu and Suining−Chongqing Lines instead of the longer and older Chengdu–Chongqing Railway.
History
The Dacheng Railway was proposed in 1958 by Railway Minister Teng Daiyuan but was halted after two years of planning due to economic difficulties caused by the Great Leap Forward.[2] The project was reconsidered in 1965 but was set aside in favor of building the Xiangfan-Chongqing Railway first.[2] In 1986, Deng Xiaoping, a native of eastern Sichuan, pressed for the project to proceed and construction began in June 1992.[2] Some 386 km (240 mi) of new tracks were laid.[2] The railway opened on December 25, 1997.[2]
From June 2005 to July 1, 2009, the entire line was electrified.[3] The Chengdu-Suining section in the west was double tracked and can permit trains to reach a top speed of 200 km/h.[3] A second line was added to the Suining-Sanhui section in the east and trains can reach 160 km/h on this section.[3]
Rail junctions
- Chengdu: Baoji–Chengdu Railway, Chengdu–Kunming Railway
- Suining: Suining–Chongqing Railway
- Dazhou: Xiangyang–Chongqing Railway
