. Construction of the section between
Tangshan and
Tianjin began in 1881 as the
Kaiping Tramway. This section is the second-oldest railway in China and the oldest still in use. (The oldest railway in China was the
Woosung Railway in Shanghai, built in 1876 but dismantled and removed to Taiwan the next year.) Later this section was extended west to
Beijing and east to
Shanhaiguan. It was further extended to the east and reached
Mukden (modern
Shenyang) in Fengtian province (modern
Liaoning) by 1912. The railway operated under or was known by several names, including: • the
Imperial Railroad of North China, • the
Guanneiwai Railway (literally "Shanhaiguan Inner & Outer Railway"), • the
Jingfeng Railway, or
Peking−Mukden Railway in English, from August 1907 to 1928, • the
Pingfeng Railway, or
Peiping−Mukden Railway in English, from 1928 to April 1929, • the
Beining Railway, from April 1929 to 1932. Under the late
Qing and during the early
Republic, it was administered by and provided much of the revenue for the
Ministry of Posts and Communications. It is now administered by the
Ministry of Railways for the
People's Republic of China. The section from
Shenyang to
Harbin used to be a part of the South Manchuria branch of the
Chinese Eastern Railway built by the
Russian Empire from 1898 to 1902. Later, the section from
Changchun to Shenyang became part of the Japanese-owned
South Manchuria Railway. There used to be no linking line between the Beining Railway and the South Manchuria Railway. A bridge was built for the South Manchuria Railway to cross the Beining Railway. The
Huanggutun Incident took place on June 4, 1928 right at this bridge, several kilometres east of the Huanggutun railway station on the Beining Railway. After the Japanese occupation of
Manchuria and the subsequent establishment of the
puppet state of
Manchukuo, the section of the line east of
Shanhaiguan - being within the territory of Manchukuo – was separated from the Beining Railway, becoming the
Fengshan Line of the
Manchukuo National Railway. In the Japanese-occupied territory under the authority of the
collaborationist Provisional Government of the Republic of China, a new company was set up to manage railways and bus transportation in northern China (excluding the puppet states of Manchukuo and
Mengjiang). Called the
North China Transportation Company, it was formed in 1938 through the nationalisation of all railways in the territory of the Provisional Government, including the Beining Railway. During the existence of the NCTC, the truncated Beining Line was known as the Beishan Line (from its termini,
Beijing and
Shanhaiguan). The NCTC was liquidated after Japan's defeat in the
Pacific War, and its operations were taken over by the Republic of China Railway in 1945; this became the
China Railway after the establishment of the
People's Republic of China in 1949. After 1949, the Beining Railway, the Shenyang−Changchun section of the South Manchuria Railway's
Renkyō Line, and the
Manchukuo National Railway's Changchun–Harbin
Jingbin Line were merged and named the
Jingha Railway. Before 2007, the Beijing–Harbin railway shared the route with the
Beijing–Shanghai railway from
Beijing to
Tianjin, and then to
Qinhuangdao then continuing to
Harbin. The railway was merged with the
Beijing–Qinhuangdao railway, bypassing
Tianjin. The remaining section between Tianjin and Qinhuangdao was renamed into the
Tianjin–Shanhaiguan railway. ==Current status==