Tangshan–Baotou railway

TheTangshan–Baotou railway(referred to in Chinese as theTangbao Railwayfor short) is a railway connectingTangshan,Hebei ProvinceandBaotou,Inner Mongolia, China. It starts from Tangshan in the east, passes throughChengdeandZhangjiakouin Hebei,UlanqabandHohhotin Inner Mongolia, and ends in Baotou in the west. The Tangshan–Baotou railway connects with theHohhot–Zhungar railwayand other railways to form another major coal-transport railway route in the north after theDatong–Qinhuangdao railway.
The Tanghu Railway is composed of the former Kongjiazhuang–Tangshan (Zhangtang) railway, Zhangjiakou–Jining (Zhangji) railway and theJining–Baotou railwayfromGuyingpan stationtoTaigemu station(south of Hohot on theBeijing–Baotou railway), with a total length of 852.419 km (529.669 mi). It started from Caofeidian North station in the east and ends at Taigemu station in the west. The property owner of the section from Caofeidian North station (exclusive) toTaobuqi stationis theMengji Railway Company. The section from Caofeidian North station (exclusive) to Youyi Shuiku station (exclusive) is operated (managed) by theBeijing Railway Group, and the section from Youyi Shuiku station to Taigemu station is operated (including management) by theHohhot Railway Group.
In order to improve transportation efficiency and solve the conflicts between passenger and freight trains, a diversion and reconstruction project was carried out on the west side of Hulu Station from July to September 2020.Due to the line changes caused by this project, on 11 October of the same year, the Kongjiazhuang–Tangshan line, Zhangjiakou–Jining line and the Jining–Baotou railway between Guyingpan and Hulu (i.e. the Tangshan–Baotou Line between Caofeidian North and Hulu) and the original Beijing–Baotou line between Hulu and Baotou were merged to form the Tangshan–Baotou railway, with a freight mileage of 1,013 km (629 mi). The original section of the Tangshan–Baotou line from Hulu to Taigemu became part of the reorganised Beijing–Baotou line.
The line betweenJining South(then known asPingchiquan) andBaotouwas built as part of the line now called theBeijing–Baotou railway. Construction of the 240.3 km (149.3 mi)–long Fengzhen–Suiyuansection began in August 1919. On 1 May 1921, the entire line was completed and renamed theBeiping–Guisui railway(after the then current names forBeijingandHohhot) orPingsui railway.
Only five months after the opening of the Beiping–Guisui railway, the 149.6 km (93.0 mi) Suiyuan–Baotou section began to be built. The line runs westward from Suiyuan, between the southern foot of theYin Mountainsand the Dahei River, passing throughBikeqi,Chasuqi,Taosihao,Salaqito Baotou (nowBaotou East) station. It was completed and opened to traffic in January 1923, at which point the entire line was completed, with a total length of 817.9 km (508.2 mi).
This line was planned and partly constructed during thesecond five-year planperiod at the beginning of the founding of thePeople's Republic of China. The purpose of building the line was to shorten the transport distance between Zhangjiakou and Jining, reduce the volume of freight traffic on theBeijing–Baotou railwayand shorten the distance by 111 km (69 mi) compared to running viaDatong. Construction preparations began in early 1958. The original planned route was to start from the west ofGuoleizhuang stationon the Beijing–Baotou railway, separate from the Beijing–Baotou railway, and pass through Yangjiaogou,XinghetoJining South station. The route between Guoleizhuang and Yangjiaogou passes through the terrace on the left bank of the Yanghe river, and the terrain is relatively flat. The route between Yangjiaogou and Xinghe enters the steep mountainous area on the left bank of the Yanghe river valley. The route between Xinghe and Jining passes through the hilly area of theMongolian Plateau, and the terrain is relatively flat. Due to theSino-Soviet split, all construction work was suspended in May 1959.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the route was replanned and changed to start from Zhangjiakou South station (nowZhangjiakou station) on the Beijing–Baotou railway, and use the existing line to the east ofKongjiazhuang. After completing the transfer of passenger and freight traffic between the Zhangjiakou–Jining railway and Beijing–Baotou railway, it turns northwest and enteres Inner Mongolia throughWanquanCounty andShangyi Countyin Hebei Province. Then it passes throughXinghe CountyandChahar Right Front Bannerin Inner Mongolia, and runs parallel to the existing Beijing-Baotou Railway to enterGuyingpanand end atJining South. Construction started on 1 May 2006 and was originally scheduled to open to traffic on 31 October 2009. However, due to the difficulty of constructing the 9,585 m (31,447 ft)-long Jiubao Tunnel in Hebei Province, the completion time was postponed and it was opened on 28 April 2011.The total length of the line is 178.08 km (110.65 mi), of which 13.516 km (8.398 mi) formed part of the existing line, 164.56 km (102.25 mi) was newly built, and 5.04 km (3.13 mi) are relocated freight transfer tracks. The total investment of the project was 3.36 billionyuan.
The transportation distance between Zhangjiakou and Jining was shortened by 126 km (78 mi) compared to the original route via Datong on the Beijing–Baotou railway, and passenger train running time was shortened by up to 3.5 hours. Since 10 April 2018, all ordinary passenger trains have returned to the original Beijing–Baotou railway route via Datong.
The planned total length of the Zhangjiakou–Tangshan railway is 528 km (328 mi), with a total investment of 40.001 billionyuan. The project started on 21 March 2010, with a planned construction period of 4.5 years. There are 17 stations along the line, 174 bridges totalling 137 km (85 mi), and 85 tunnels totalling 230 km (140 mi), with 65% pf the line consisting of bridges or tunnels.The entire line was completed and opened to traffic on 30 December 2015,and partial passenger services (Chengde–Fengrun section) were launched on 14 May 2016. However, there is now no station on the Zhangjiakou–Tangshan line that is served by passenger services.