Chengdu–Chongqing railway

In 1903, a railway line between Chengdu and Chongqing, the two biggest cities in Sichuan, was proposed by Huguang Viceroy Zhang Zhidong as part of a railway from Sichuan to Wuhan. Construction on this line began in 1909 and halted in 1911. Attempts to resume construction in 1936, by the China Development Finance Corporation, and in 1947 ended with the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. On December 31, 1949, shortly after the Chinese Communists captured Sichuan from the Nationalists, Secretary of the Southwest Bureau Deng Xiaoping proposed the building of the railway. Work began on June 15, 1950 and involved 30,000 People's Liberation Army troops and 10,000 civilian laborers. The line was completed on June 13, 1952, and entered into trial operation on July 1, 1952. It was the first railway line built in China after the establishment of the People's Republic of China. By 2008, the line was transporting 90 million tons of cargo and 70 million passengers per year. ==Passenger service==

As of 2021, the only remaining passenger service is a one train in each direction per day between Chongqing and Neijiang. ==Other rail lines between Chengdu and Chongqing==

The opening of the Dazhou–Chengdu railway (via Suining) in 1997, and the Suining–Chongqing Railway in 2006, created another, shorter, railway route between Chengdu and Chongqing, via Suining (the so-called ), long. After 2009, high-speed CRH passenger trains ran on that route. ==Rail junctions==

• Chengdu: Baoji–Chengdu railway, Chengdu–Kunming railway • Neijiang: Neijiang–Kunming railway • Chongqing: Xiangfan–Chongqing railway, Chongqing–Huaihua railway ==See also==