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China is 38 times the size of the UK. Railways are one of the most important aspects of travel within China, with 50,000 miles of track in use. Over 3,000 passenger trains operate each day, along with a massive 36,000 freight trains. The only part of China not connected is the province of Macau. The first railways were built in 1876. between Shanghai and Woosung, a mere 15 miles long. However, as it was built without permission it was demolished by the government a year later and railway development then stood still, regarded with fear and mistrust by the Qing Dynasty rulers. However, after China's defeat in the first Sino-Japanese War, a few railways were built, spreading out from Beijing (despite its other name of Peking it has always been known as Beijing within China – the name means "northern capital").
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By 1911 there were around 7,000 miles of track, though most were built, owned and operated by foreign companies. Between 1912 and 1949 development slowed down and it was not until the 1950s that development again started up and today the vast majority of major towns and cities are linked by rail. Until about 1980 most trains were steam-hauled and it is still possible to find many steam locos in operation, primarily on freight lines. A magnificent series of photographs of Chinese steam trains was taken by Michael Rhodes and was on display at the NRM in York during 2008 (please see below).
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Today China's rail network is the busiest in the world, moving 24% of all global freight traffic, on just 6% of the world's rail tracks. After Russia and Germany, China has the largest network of electric railways in the world – it also has the world's fastest operating scheduled service, between Beijing and Tianjin (350 km/h). During the Chinese New Year period extra trains are added (rather than shutting down the network for engineering as seems to happen in Britain !) and during the 40-day period about 156 million passengers use trains – close to 4 million per day. Normal days throughout the rest of the year see about 2.5 million on the trains. Trains link Beijing with Hong Kong and also with Tibet and with Russia. There are plans to link to Nepal as well, and eventually link into Indian territory – the route will be spectacular !
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For more details on the magnificent exhibition of photographs of steam in China by Michael Rhodes go to the National Railway Museum website – www.nrm.org.uk/events/china2008/rhodes1.asp (this photograph is the copyright of Michael Rhodes and we use it only to help promote his wonderful work).
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