A T70 passenger train from Beijing West to Urumqi North on the Taiyuan–Zhongwei–Yinchuan railway over the Wuding River in Suide, Shaanxi Province near the intersection with the Shenmu–Yan'an railway (Photo taken in 2014).
The main line of the railway runs in the general east-west direction from Taiyuan to Zhongwei via Lüliang and
Dingbian, serving a number of communities in western Shanxi, northern Shaanxi and Ningxia, many of which previously did not have rail service at all. The Dingbian-Yinchuan branch runs from Dingbian northwest, to Ningxia's capital city Yinchuan.
The railway also has a short dead-end branch from Lüliang to Lin County (Linxian) in the northwestern Shanxi.
In some areas (a section of the main line east of Dingbian, and the Dingbian-Yinchuan branch), the railway route roughly parallels the Great Wall of China.
Service
Together with the Shijiazhuang–Taiyuan high-speed railway, the Taiyuan–Zhongwei–Yinchuan railway provides a more direct route between Beijing and Ningxia than those that were available before. Together with the Zhongwei-Wuwei line in Ningxia and Gansu, it offers a shorter route between Beijing and Xinjiang than the more standard route via Zhengzhou and Lanzhou.[1]
History
Construction started in May 2006. The railway was opened on January 11, 2011. It includes the 20 km (12 mi) long Lüliangshan Tunnel near Lüliang City in western Shanxi.
