The Longhai railway (Chinese: 陇海铁路; pinyin: Lǒnghǎi Tiělù), formerly romanized as the Lunghai railway, is a major arterial east–west railway in China. It runs from Lianyungang, Jiangsu, on the Yellow Sea to Lanzhou, Gansu, through the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Shaanxi, and Gansu, covering a total length of 1,759 kilometres (1,093 mi). The line is named after Gansu, also known as Long (陇) in Chinese and Lianyungang's previous name, Haizhou.[1] The Longhai Line is one of the busiest Chinese railways. It has dual tracks throughout and electrification was completed in 2009.
The first section of the railway, entirely within Henan, from Kaifeng to Luoyang was built from 1905 to 1909 by a venture between the Qing dynasty and a Belgian joint-stock company backed by France and Russia.[1] This line, known as the Bianliang–Luoyang railway, began operation on January 1, 1910.[1]
Longhai railway bombarded during World War II.
The line was extended eastward to Xuzhou in 1916 and to Haizhou in 1925 with Dutch financing.[1] In the west, the line was extended to Lingbao, Henan, in 1927 with Belgian financing.[1] After the Northern Expedition, the Nanjing-based Republican government took control of construction and extended the line further west to Tongguan, Shaanxi, in 1931; Xi'an in 1934; Baoji, Shaanxi, in 1936; and Tianshui, Gansu, in 1945.[1]
Construction of the Tianshui to Lanzhou section, entirely within Gansu, broke ground in May 1946 but was halted by Chinese Civil War, then resumed under the People's Republic in April 1950 and was completed in July 1953.[1] At this time, the entire Longhai railway entered into operation.[1]
No. 8 Bridge on the Longhai railway rebuilt by the PLA Rail Corps in 1950.
From 1956 to 1970, the section between Zhengzhou, Henan, and Baoji, Shaanxi, was upgraded to the dual-track line. During the same time, in Henan the line near Sanmenxia was re-routed due to the Sanmenxia Reservoir Project. The Zhengzhou to Shangqiu section was converted to dual-track in 1980.
The corridor was extended with the opening in February 2021 of the Lianyungang–Xuzhou high-speed railway, which runs parallel to the Longhai line between Xuzhou and Lianyungang.