Shaoshan 9G electric locomotive No. 0193, which was attached to Wuchang South locomotive depot, hauls Z123 train at the Longtan Overpass over the Chengdu Third Ring Road, in 2013
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, electrifiedrailroad in Sichuan Province of southwestChina. 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]
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 1 July 2009, the entire line was electrified.[3] A second track was opened on the Chengdu–Suining section on 1 April 2006 that allows 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]
On 7 July 2009, the high-speed track between Chengdu and Suining was duplicated and these two tracks were subsequently designated as the Suining–Chengdu railway. The original low-speed, single track line between Chengdu and Suining remains as part of the Dazhou–Chengdu railway.
^ abc"达成铁路西段扩能改造工程建成开通" [Dacheng Railway West Section Expansion Project Completed and Opened]. Sichuan Daily (in Chinese). 2 July 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
