TheBeijing–Baotou railway orJingbao railway (simplified Chinese:京包铁路;traditional Chinese:京包鐵路;pinyin:Jīngbāo Tiělù) is an 833 km (518 mi) railway fromBeijing toBaotou,Inner Mongolia, functioning as an important route inNorth China. It was the first railway in China designed and built by Chinese. It passes through a famous section of theGreat Wall atBadaling. It is now largely paralleled withBeijing–Zhangjiakou intercity railway andZhangjiakou–Hohhot high-speed railway.
In 2019, with the opening of theBeijing–Zhangjiakou intercity railway, the Beijing–Baotou railway adjusted the mileage. The ordinary-speed line fromChangping toShahe was merged into the Shuangqiao–Shahe Railway (Beijing Northeast Ring railway). The actual starting point of the Beijing–Baotou railway was shortened to the south side ofChangping, the section fromChangping to Beijing North is considered part ofBeijing–Zhangjiakou intercity railway.
The first section of the Beijing–Baotou railway, theImperial Peking–Kalgan railway (now the "Jingzhang" railway) was constructed between 1905 and 1909, connecting Beijing withZhangjiakou (Kalgan). This section was the first railway designed and built by Chinese. The chief engineer isZhan Tianyou. He overcame the steep gradient nearBadaling using aswitchback. Due to his achievement in constructing this railway, Zhan (Jeme) is called the father of China's railways.
The railway was extended fromZhangjiakou toHohhot by 1921 and to Baotou by 1923.
Even with the switchback, the gradient near Qinglongqiao railway station is still at 3.3%. In addition, travelling through the switchback is slow. A bypass route, theFensha railway, was built in the 1950s betweenFengtai andShacheng along theYongding river. This route was considered but dropped by Zhan due to high construction cost. Before the 1990s, the Fengsha railway was mainly used to transport freight, and the original Jingzhang railway was focused on passenger transport. Now, trains to/from Baotou have changed to use the Fengsha railway instead.
TheBeijing–Zhangjiakou intercity railway and theZhangjiakou–Hohhot high-speed railway, which both opened on 30 December 2019, parallel most of the line.
To improve the freight capacity ofTangshan–Hohhot railway, those two railway lines exchange their main line betweenHulu railway station andTaobuqi railway station in September 2020, separating the freight and passenger corridors. Meanwhile the section betweenTaigemu railway station andBaotou railway station was also assigned toTangshan–Hohhot railway which has been renamed asTangshan–Baotou railway.[1]
The main route that deviates via the Fengsha railway is adouble-track, electrified line. The section betweenJining South andBaotou isquadruple track. The section betweenChangping andShacheng is not electrified and mainly single-track. It is now used by little traffic. Freight and long-distance passenger services run via the Fengsha railway. 13 express services run each way between Beijing and Baotou each day, taking approximately 11 hours, stopping inXuanhua,Zhangjiakou,Datong, Jining South,Hohhot and Baotou.
Line S2 services of theBeijing Suburban Railway betweenHuangtudian (running via theBeijing Northeast Ring railway and connecting to the Jingbao railway betweenQinghe andShahe) andBadaling (the station for visiting the Great Wall) continue to use the Jingbao Railway, reversing at Qinglongqiao West station on the western switchback on the journey towards Badaling and at Qinglongqiao main station on the eastern switchback on their way back towards Beijing. The stops at Qinglongqiao are service stops, not advertised passenger stops and the doors remain closed.
From 2008 to 2016, the S2 services operated hourly from Beijing North to Yanqing and Shacheng. From 2016 to 2019, the S2 services operated hourly from Huangtudian to Yanqing and Shacheng. Since 1 December 2020 there have been five services between Huangtudian and Yanqing each way from Friday to Monday and on public holidays. On other days there are three services.[2] These services are the only regular traffic on the unelectrified line east of Shacheng and are operated usingdiesel multiple units. S2 services continue from Badaling over the short single-trackKangzhuang–Yanqing railway (Kangyan railway) toYanqing. The Kangzhuang–Yanqing railway was temporarily closed between March 30, 2020 and June 30, 2020.
Some of the following stations are now disused.
| Major Station | Mileage (km) |
|---|---|
| Beijing (北京) | 0 |
| Shacheng (沙城) | 121 |
| Xuanhua (宣化) | 171 |
| Zhangjiakou South (张家口南) | 196 |
| Datong (大同) | 374 |
| Jining south (集宁南) | 501 |
| Hohhot (呼和浩特) | 659 |
| Baotou (包头) | 824 |
