Qingdao–Jinan railway


The Qingdao–Jinan railway or Jiaoji Railway is a railway in Shandong Province, China. The railway is 393 km in length and connects Qingdao, on the Jiaozhou Bay, and Jinan, the provincial capital of Shandong. Adolph von Hansemann and other German financiers funded construction of the railway, then known as Schantung Eisenbahn Gesellschaft, which began September 23, 1899, and was completed in 1904. Since the quadruple tracking of this corridor with the opening of the parallel Qingdao–Jinan passenger railway the line is mostly used for freight with some conventional passenger services.

Rail connections

As the Qingdao–Jinan railway could be used to transport a large number of soldiers through the mountainous countryside of the Shandong Peninsula, it was of great military significance during the Warlord Era and Nanjing decade of China, as various warlords used it in their conflicts. In late 1932, the railway saw heavy fighting as warlord Han Fuju sought to capture its eastern section from his rival Liu Zhennian during a war for eastern Shandong. Liu's troops managed to beat off the attacks, forcing Han to resort to the region's road network to move his army, significantly prolonging the war. Nevertheless, Han eventually won, unifying all of Shandong under his rule.
It was originally opened by the German-owned Shantung Railway Company, and after the Germans were defeated in China by the Japanese during the First World War, it passed to Chinese control as the Jiaoji Railway Company. After the Japanese occupation of northern China during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Jiaoji Railway was nationalised and made part of the North China Transportation Company. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the railway became part of China Railway.

Incidents