Chengdu–Kunming railway


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The Chengdu–Kunming railway or Chengkun railway (simplified Chinese: 成昆铁路; traditional Chinese: 成昆鐵路; pinyin: chéngkūn tiělù), is a major trunkline railroad in southwestern China between Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province and Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province. The line is 1,134 km (705 mi) long and traverses rugged terrain from the Sichuan Basin to the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.[1] The line was built between 1958 and 1970, with much of the work coming during the Third Front campaign to develop industry in China's interior. Major cities along route include Chengdu, Pengshan, Jiajiang, Emei, Ebian, Ganluo, Xide, Xichang, Dechang, Miyi and Panzhihua in Sichuan Province and Yuanmou, Lufeng, Anning and Kunming in Yunnan Province.

Chengdu–Kunming railway

Guancunba Station, on the old line next to the Dadu River (downstream of the Niuri River Valley), in Jinkouhe District, Leshan.

Overview
Other name(s)Chengkun railway
Native name成昆铁路
StatusOperational
OwnerChina Railway
LocaleSouthwest China
Termini
Service
TypeHeavy rail
Operator(s)
History
Opened1 January 1971
Completed1 July 1970
Closure of Huapengzi–Huangguayuan section of old line26 May 2020
Completion of new line26 December 2022
Technical
Line length900 km (560 mi)
Number of tracks2
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) standard gauge
Electrification25 kV 50 Hz AC overhead line
Operating speed200 km/h (120 mph)

New line

km

0

Chengdu

4

Bali

15

Chengdu East

Chengdu South

Left arrow Chengdu west loop

32

Shuangliu

42

Gongxing

Right arrow to Chengdu North marshalling yard

Hualongmen

54

Puxing

Huilong'an

Min

66

Qinglongchang

77

Pengshan

85

Taihe

92

MeishanMeishan East

102

Xiantan

110

Simeng

MeishanLeshan

119

Wuchang

129

Macun

original Chengdu–Kunming line

137

Leshan North

original Chengdu–Kunming line
destroyed in the 1970s

Qingyi

original replacement track

145

Shuangfu

156

Emei

Left arrow

Chengdu–Guiyang HSR
(Emeishan branch)

Right arrow

160

Yangang

Left arrow

Chengdu–Panzhihua section
(part of the original line)

Shawan South

Fandianzi

Ebian South

Jinkouhe South

Teke

Ganluo South

Mantan

Yuexi South

Anluo

Xide West

Right arrow Emei–Panzhihua railway

Mianning

Right arrow Emei–Panzhihua railway

Yuehua West

Xichang West

Youjun

Right arrow Huangshuitang link

Huangshuitang South

Dechang West

Yonglang West

Left arrow Miyi East link

Miyi East

Left arrow Miyi East link

Binggu East

Yanbian

old line

Chengdu–Lijiang expressway

Right arrow Panzhihua–old line link

Puda

Panzhihua South

Xianfeng ying

Yongren

Xinkang

Right arrow

Yuanmou-Kunming section from
Huangguayuan (part of the original line)

Yuanmou West

LowerRight arrow Yuanmou–Kunming railway

Dashucun

Longchuan

Dianwei

Yuanmou–Kunming railway

Guangtong North

Lufeng South

Shuangmeicun

1068

Wenquan

Left arrow Xinyamei Guwuliu freght yard line

Left arrow Kunming–Zhongyicun railway

Left arrow Anning line

1077

Dushupu

1086

Bijiguan

1091

Kunming West

1100

Kunming

km

This diagram:

Chengdu–Panzhihua section

km

156

Emei

Left arrow Chengdu–Guiyang HSR (Emeishan branch) Right arrow

160

Yangang

170

Jiuli

179

Shawan

191

Zhenxi

199

Liugou

Right arrow Liugou branch (closed)

208

Daiwan

216

Yangxuan

225

Gonghe

232

Ebian

Zhaoping No. 1 tunnel (3253 m)

243

Baicun

254

Jinkouhe

Guancunba tunnel (6187 m)

263

Guancunba

LeshanYa'an

Liziwan tunnel (3008 m)

271

Changheba

280

Hanyuan

Dadu→,↑Ya'anLiangshan Yi

Old line abandoned in 1984

Liziyida tunnel (1465 m)

Liziyida bridge (destroyed by mudslide)

Nainaibao tunnel (abandoned)

287

Niri

Niri No. 2 tunnel (3555 m)

296

Suxiong

305

Lianghong

312

Aidai

320

Ganluo

328

Nan'ergang

336

Azhai

349

Baiguo

359

Baishiyan

367

Yuexi

374

Tiexi

382

Xiapuxiong

389

Labai

396

Puxiong

402

Shangpuxiong

410

Ersaihe

418

Nibo

427

Lewu

433

Hongfeng

Shamalada tunnel (6383 m)

high point on line

2244 m

441

Shamalada

449

Wazu

457

Tiekou

466

Xinliang

474

Lianhexiang

483

Xide

494

Mianshan

503

Xintiecun

509

Mianning

519

Manshuiwan

527

Yuehua

536

Lizhou

548

Xichang North

557

Xichang

562

Xichang South

570

Jingjiu

580

Huanglianguan

589

Huangshuitang

Right arrow link to Chengdu–Kunming
double-track line (under construction)

597

Mali

606

Huangjiaba

615

Dechang

625

Xiaogao

635

Leyao

643

Puba

654

Yonglang

664

Wanqiu

674

Qinggang

682

Shaba

Up arrow Chengdu–Kunming double-track line
(under construction)

Miyi link

Miyi East

Down arrow Chengdu–Kunming double-track line

691

Miyi

698

Binggu /Binggu East

709

Yakou

716

Zaozilin

727

Tongzilin

737

Niupingzi

Left arrow Dukou branch to Geliping

742

Sanduizi

Jinsha

749

Panzhihua

Left arrow Panzhihua link line

759

Yizi

771

Lazha

784

Huapengzi

dismantled for the construction of the Wudongde Dam
(see Yuanmou–Kunming railway)

km

This diagram:

Yuanmou–Kunming section

km

Up arrow

northern part of original Chengdu–Kunming
line (Emei–Panzhihua railway)

784

Huapengzi

dismantled and flooded by the Wudongde Dam
between Huapengzi and Huangguayuan in 2020

Liande tunnel (4602m)

798

Xinjiang

806

Shizhuang

817

Dawanzi

830

Hongjiang

840

Huangguayuan

851

Yuanmou

Yuanmou West

Left arrow Chengdu–Kunming double-track line

864

Yindi

870

Xiaoyuejiu

880

Yangjiuhe

890

Xiaocun

Bagele spiral

901

Ananzhuang

→Longchuan→

912

Longgudian

Fala spiral

920

Heijing

925

Dianxin

934

Longtangba

Right arrow Chengdu–Kunming double-track line

943

Dianwei

947

GuangtongGuangtong North

Down arrow Chengdu–Kunming double-track line

956

Dajiuzhuang

961

Tashizui

969

Yipinglang

974

Yubacun

984

Mimalong

989

Lufeng

998

Tanghai

1008

Xiaoluxi

1019

Dade

1025

Gaoloufang

1034

Qinfengying

1040

Zerunli

1050

Qinglongsi

1061

Muyangcun

Up arrow

Chengdu–Kunming
double-track line

1068

Wenquan

km

This diagram:

Fala Spiral of Chengdu–Kunming railway
A memorial for workers who lost their lives in the construction of the railway in Jianshui County.

Construction of a largely new double-track line started in 2010 and was completed on 26 December 2022.[2] A northern section of the old line was called the Emei–Panzhihua railway, but since the completion of the new line has been called the Chengdu–Panzhihua (shortened to Chengpan) section of the line and a southern section was called the Yuanmou–Kunming railway, but is now called the Yuanmou-Kunming section of the line.

 
The construction of the Luosuoguan Anning River Bridge on the Emei–Miyi double-track section in northern Dechang County, Sichuan, in August 2019.

Planning of the Chengdu–Kunming railway began in 1952 with several routes under consideration.[1] An eastern route would have run via Neijiang, Zigong, Yibin, Shuifu, Yanjin. Yiliang, Malong and Songming. A central route would have taken a similar route as far as Yibin and continued via Pingshan, Suijiang, Yongshan, Daguan, Qiaojia, Huize, Dongchuan and Songming. A western route would run via Meishan, Leshan, Ebian Yi, Ganluo, Xide, Xichang, Dechang, Huili and Guangtong. Soviet advisers recommended the central route as they considered the western route to be too difficult to build, because of its geography and geology, and that it could not be maintained because it would be prone to flooding, mudslides and earthquakes. Nevertheless, a committee headed by Zhou Enlai preferred the western route and this was eventually confirmed. It was considered to give access to important mineral deposits, passed through areas inhabited by ethnic minorities and had advantages for national defence.

The eastern route was later used for much of the Neijiang–Kunming railway, which was completed in 2001. The central route has similarities to the route of the under construction Chongqing–Kunming high-speed railway.

Construction began in 1958 during the Great Leap Forward and expanded to full-scale in 1964. Much of the construction occurred as a focus of the Third Front campaign to develop basic industry and national defense industry in China's interior;[3]: 134  this campaign was accelerated when fears of possible American invasion increased after the Gulf of Tonkin incident.[3]: 7  The only rail connection to Kunming at that time ran through North Vietnam. In July 1970, the line was completed and entered into operation in January 1971.[1] Because it was built as part of the secretive Third Front campaign pursuant to the view that it had to be kept hidden from China's geopolitical rivals, completion of the railway was not announced or promoted.[3]: 134 

The government published a pictorial in 1976 showing pictures of the construction and extreme terrain that required hundreds of tunnels and bridges.[4] Building conditions were hazardous and 2,100 workers perished during the construction of the original line.[5]

On August 30, 2000, the entire line was electrified.[1]

Aside from Chengdu and Kunming, the old line had a total of 122 stations,[1][6] although many of these are now closed for passengers and some for freight operations. Four stations on either side of the Jinsha River (Yangtze) crossing were inundated by the Wudongde Dam in 2020.

On 14 August 2019, a major landslide occurred near Adai station, killing 17 staff involved in rescue and disaster relief.[7][8] After emergency repairs on the affected section, freight trains and daytime passenger trains resumed operation on 25 October and 2 December of the same year respectively.[9] It was decided to build the 1.5-kilometre-long (0.93 mi) Yandai Tunnel to avoid the landslide-affected section. The project started on 7 September 2019. It was suspended due to the 2020 Lunar New Year holiday and the impact of the Covid 19 epidemic. It resumed on 10 February 2020 and was completed on 9 March[10] and 26 April.

Cultural significance

edit

Academic Covell F. Meyskens writes that the Chengdu-Kunming railway serves as a symbol of the Communist Party's technical ability to remake the Chinese landscape in accord with its own vision, comparing its function in this regard to the Ten Great Buildings.[3]: 134 

 
Ivory carving of the Chengdu-Kunming railway presented as a gift to the United Nations on display at UN Headquarters in New York.

In 1974, an ivory sculpture commemorating the completion of the Chengdu–Kunming railway was presented as a gift to the United Nations and is displayed at the U.N. Headquarters in New York.[11] The sculpture depicts the rail bridge across the Dadu River between two mountain peaks, with intricate details of passengers inside the train.[12] The sculpture, 150 cm (59 in) in length and 110 cm (43 in) in height, was made from eight elephant tusks and weighs over 300 kilograms (660 lb).[11]

The Chengkun railway is a major trunkline in China's railway network and connects with numerous other railway lines including:[6]

Sichuan Province

Yunnan Province

Natural Disaster Vulnerability

edit

Four sections of the railroad which pass through the Niuri River Valley, Manshuiwan to Xichang of the Anning River Valley, Jinsha River Valley and Longchuan River Valley are under the exposure of the vulnerable debris flow and landslide. Soviet experts used to make a prediction that the railroad "will be turned into a pile of scrap iron by violent nature even after it is completed" in the route design stage;[13] An Imagery Analysis Service Note published by CIA in October 1971 made a statement that "[the railroad] will undoubtedly require more than the normal maintenance because of the rugged terrain it passes through" based on the detection of at least two replacement works of the destroyed tracks caused by landslides in the first year of its operation.[14]

Upon operation, major natural disasters did not occur in the Anning River Valley and Longchuan River Valley section due to the considered route selection and adequate protection strategies adopted. However, the section through the Niuri River Valley that had a faster river flow—due to its short, steep channel and unstable valley side slope—was not given sufficient consideration during the construction period. Multiple incidents of debris flow have occurred in the Niuri River Valley section especially between Niri and Suxiong and between Lianghong and Aidai.[15]

In the early 21st century, with local economic growth, the single-track Chengdu-Kunming Railway had become congested. In order to create more capacity, the line was replaced by a double track-line with longer tunnels and viaducts, although the original track was generally retained as one of the two tracks between Chengdu and Emei. The new line is 900 kilometres (560 mi) long, with a design speed of 160 to 200 kilometres per hour (99 to 124 mph) and cost 55.2 billion yuan to build in total. Most of the new line runs near the old line, but on some sections of the route is significantly shortened and straightened. Therefore, the new line is nearly 200 kilometres (120 mi) shorter than the old 1,091-kilometre (678 mi) line. Trains now take only about 7 hours from Chengdu to Kunming.[16]

Work on the new line commenced in 2010. Double-tracking of the section between Hualongmen and Pengshan was completed in June 2017.[17] The final 384-kilometre (239 mi)-long section between Emei and Miyi was completed on 26 December 2022.[2]

A northern section of the old line was called the Emei–Panzhihua railway (shortened to E-Pan railway), but changed on completion of the full line to the Chengdu–Panzhihua (shortened to Chengpan) branch of the Chengdu–Kunming railway. A southern section was called the Yuanmou–Kunming railway (shortened to Yuankun railway), but is now called the Yuanmou-Kunming section of the line. The section of the old line between Huapengzi (south of Panzhihua) and Huangguayuan (north of Yuanmou) has been closed and flooded by the Wudongde Dam.

The new line is designed mainly for freight. It is proposed that high-speed passenger services between Chengdu and Kunming will be provided by the Chengdu–Chongqing intercity railway (completed in 2015) from Chengdu to Neijiang North, the Southern Sichuan intercity railway (due to open in 2023) from Neijiang North to a new station in Yibin, and the Chongqing–Kunming high-speed railway (approved by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2019) from Yibin to Kunming.

  1. ^ a b c d e 《中国铁路线》 P25-26 Last Accessed 2011-07-31
  2. ^ a b "新成昆铁路带来发展新面貌" [The new Chengdu–Kunming Railway brings a new look to development]. Weicai News Network (in Chinese). 25 December 2022. Archived from the original on 31 December 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d Meyskens, Covell F. (2020). Mao's Third Front: The Militarization of Cold War China. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108784788. ISBN 978-1-108-78478-8. OCLC 1145096137. S2CID 218936313.
  4. ^ "Mountains and Rivers Make Way: The Chengtu-Kunming Railroad in Photographs," published by the Foreign Languages Press (Peking: 1976).
  5. ^ (Chinese) "成昆铁路:生命铺就的英雄史诗" Archived May 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Last Accessed 2011-07-31
  6. ^ a b Quail Map Company (2008). China railway Atlas (third ed.). Quail Map Company. ISBN 978-1-898319-82-5.
  7. ^ "成昆铁路凉红至埃岱站间岩体崩塌致部分抢险人员失联" (in Chinese). 搜狐网. 14 August 2019. Archived from the original on 3 April 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  8. ^ "成昆铁路突发山体崩塌:24人正抢险 其中13人失联" (in Chinese). 新浪新闻. 14 August 2019. Archived from the original on 6 January 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  9. ^ "成昆铁路12月2日起恢复旅客列车 成都西昌间朝发夕至" (in Chinese). 四川在线. 30 November 2019. Archived from the original on 6 January 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  10. ^ "好消息!成昆铁路甘洛段抢险改线工程埃岱隧道贯通了" (in Chinese). 四川在线. 9 March 2020. Archived from the original on 6 January 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  11. ^ a b "Chinese Ivory Carving" UN.org Archived August 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Last Accessed 2011-07-31
  12. ^ "China Presents Ivory Carving to United Nations" Last Accessed 2011-07-31
  13. ^ "成昆铁路40年 与灾害正面交锋的40年". 云南网 昆明铁道报 (in Chinese). 新浪网. 2010-07-13.
  14. ^ "Construction of Cheng-tu/Kun-ming Rail Line was a Major Engineering Accomplishment" (PDF). Imagery Analysis Service Note. CIA. 1971-10-08. p. 2 – via Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room. .
  15. ^ 严壁玉; 王茂靖 (2005). "穿越"地质博物馆"的成昆铁路". 铁道工程学报 (in Chinese). doi:10.3969/j.issn.1006-2106.2005.z1.027.
  16. ^ "成昆铁路复线年内开工 2014年建成" [Construction of the Chengdu-Kunming railway double track will start within the year and will be completed in 2014] (in Chinese (China)). News.163.com. 15 March 2009. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  17. ^ "成昆铁路复线花龙门至彭山段通车[组图]" [Chengkun Railway Complex Hualongmen to Pengshan Section Opens to Traffic]. 图片中国 (in Chinese). 22 June 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2021.