Guangzhou–Shenzhen railway

This article is about the Chinese Section of the Kowloon–Canton railway. For the British Section of the Kowloon–Canton railway, see East Rail line. For the company that operates the railway, see Guangshen Railway (company).

Not to be confused with Guangzhou–Shenzhen intercity railway.

Guangzhou–Shenzhen railway
CRH6A at Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway in Guangzhou in March 2018
Overview
Other name(s)	Guangshen railway Kowloon–Canton railway (Chinese section)
Native name	广深铁路 广深线
Status	Operational
Owner	China Railway Guangzhou Group
Line number	4
Locale	Guangdong Province: Guangzhou, Dongguan, Shenzhen
Termini	Guangzhou Shenzhen
Stations	22
Service
Type	Higher-speed rail
System	China Railway
Operator(s)	China Railway Guangzhou Group Guangshen Railway Company
Rolling stock	CRH1A EMU，CRH6A EMU (Regular service), CR200J (Mainly for "Demand-relief" between Guangzhou and Shenzhen station (or Shenzhen East station according to platform availability) CRH1A-A EMU (e.g. Guangzhou East to Xiamen EMU service), CRH1E-250 EMU (e.g. Guangzhou East to Ganzhou West EMU train service), CRH2A EMU (e.g. Nanchang West to Guangzhou East EMU train service via Shenzhen city and Dongguan), CRH380A EMU (e.g. Guangzhou East to Ganzhou West EMU train service via Dongguan)
History
Opened	8 October 1911 (1911-10-08)
Technical
Line length	147 km (91 mi)
Number of tracks	Quadruple-track (Guangzhou East – Shenzhen) Double-track (Guangzhou – Guangzhou East)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz AC (Overhead line)
Operating speed	180 km/h (110 mph) (tracks 1 and 2) 140 km/h (87 mph) (tracks 3 and 4)
Signalling	Centralized CTCS Automatic closing block system (UM-70, ZPW-2000)
Route map Jingguang railway, Guangmao railway  Guangzhou 0 km Yunlu 4 km Guangzhou East 8 km Shipai 12 km Jishan 20 km Xiayuan 27 km Nangang 32 km Xintang 39 km Shapu 45 km Xiancun 51 km Shitan 60 km Honghai 64 km Shilong 69 km Dongguan 72 km Chashan 75 km Nanshe 78 km Hengli 84 km Changping 90 km Dongguan East Jingjiu railway  Zhangmutou 103 km Ganzhou–Shenzhen high-speed railway Tangtouxia 114 km Shigu 119 km Pinghu 127 km Pinghu South Pingyan railway to Yantian District in Shenzhen  Pingnan railway to Shenzhen West  Shenzhen East 139 km Sungang 144 km Shenzhen 147 km Lo Wu Bridge, the border between HKSAR & Shenzhen East Rail line of MTR

Guangshen Railway
Simplified Chinese	广深铁路
Traditional Chinese	廣深鐵路
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Guǎngshēn Tiělù IPA [kwàŋ.ʂə́n tʰjè.lû] Yue: Cantonese Jyutping gwong2sam1 tit3lou6 IPA [kʷɔŋ˧˥.sɐm˥ tʰit̚˧.lɔw˨]
Kowloon–Canton railway, Chinese section
Simplified Chinese	广九铁路华段
Traditional Chinese	廣九鐵路華段
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Guǎngjiǔ Tiělù Huáduàn IPA [kwàŋ.tɕjòʊ tʰjè.lû xwǎ.twân] Yue: Cantonese Jyutping gwong2gau2 tit3lou6 waa4dyun6 IPA [kʷɔŋ˧˥.kɐw˧˥ tʰit̚˧.lɔw˨ wa˩.tyn˨]

Guangshen railway or Guangzhou–Shenzhen railway (Chinese: 广深铁路 or 广深线), also known as the Chinese section of the Kowloon–Canton railway (廣九鐵路華段) in 1911–1949, is a railway in Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China, between Guangzhou and Shenzhen. It is operated by Guangshen Railway Co., Ltd., a publicly traded company.

With a length of 147 kilometres (91 mi), it was the first railway in the People's Republic of China to reach the speed of 220 km/h (137 mph) in some sections, though it is limited to about 180 km/h (112 mph) during commercial operation. Now it has four tracks between Guangzhou East and Shenzhen railway station. Line 1 and 2 are up-direction and down-direction 200 km/h (124 mph) (currently restricted to 180 km/h (112 mph) in operation) passenger lines for CRH EMU respectively, and Lines 3 and 4 are up-direction and down-direction 160 km/h (99 mph) (currently restricted to 140 km/h (87 mph) in operation) mixed passenger and freight line respectively. In order to reduce the interference to passenger trains in the daytime from lower-speed freight trains, most freight trains will be scheduled to run at night.

Guangshen railway connects with several other important railways to different directions. It links Jingguang railway and Guangmao railway in Guangzhou, Jingjiu railway in Dongguan (with which shares two regular speed track), and the East Rail line to Hong Kong at the southern end of the railway. Besides, there are some branch lines along Guangshen Railway, such as Pingyan railway to Yantian Port, Pingnan railway to Shenzhen West railway station and also the line to Huangbu Port.

Border-crossing services, from Hong Kong to Dongguan (Changping), Guangzhou East, Foshan and Zhaoqing, as well as to Beijing West and Shanghai use its route. However, this service was suspended since the manifestation of COVID-19 pandemic.

History

See also: East Rail line and Kowloon–Canton Railway

The idea of constructing a railway linking Canton (now Guangzhou) and Kowloon in Hong Kong, a British crown colony germinated in the late Qing dynasty. In 1899, Britain and the Qing government agreed to construct the KCR British Section, but Britain postponed the construction as Britain was busy at the Second Boer War in Africa. In 1907, Qing government and Britain formally signed an agreement in Peking on issuing a £100-million bond as part of loan for the construction of the Chinese section of the Kowloon–Canton railway. In July 1907, construction of the British Section of the KCR began. The construction of Chinese section was delayed and only started in 1909. Under the loan contract, China needed to employ the British engineers for the construction of Chinese section, but China still employed famous Chinese railway engineer, Zhan Tianyou, as a consultant. On 8 October 1911, the Chinese section of KCR with total length of 142.77 km (88.71 mi) was opened. The northern end of railway at that time was located in Dashatou (大沙頭), Guangzhou, was demolished in 1951. The through train service between Kowloon and Guangzhou also started to operate at the same time.

After the establishment of People's Republic of China in October 1949, the 'Chinese section of the Canton–Kowloon railway' was renamed 'Guangshen railway', and repairs were made to sections of the railroad damaged during the war. In 1967, railway department carried out a comprehensive maintenance on Guangshen railway to improve the transport capacity. Beginning in the 1980s economic reform policies of China, the establishment of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and rapid economic development in the Pearl River Delta region has brought large volume of imported goods and increased passenger demand to the railway. Therefore, the second line of Guangshen Railway was constructed during 1984 to 1987 in order to meet the huge demand. Simultaneously Guangshen Railway Company (the predecessor of Guangshen Railway Company), which was directly subordinated to the Guangzhou Railway Bureau (now Guangzhou Railway Group), was established. This company was in charge of the construction projects and operational management of Guangshen Railway. In 1987, Guangshen railway became the first double-track railway in Guangdong province.

Guangshen railway is the first place in China to carry out successfully speed-up on the existing railroad. At the beginning of the 1990s, Guangzhou Railway Bureau and the Ministry of Railways carried out the pre-feasibility research about raising the maximum speed of passenger trains to 160 km/h (99 mph). At 28 December 1991, the construction of the third line of Guangshen railway, and the speed-up improvement works of original double tracks started. In October 1994, the maximum speed of a train reached 174 km/h (108 mph) during the test. At 22 December 1994, the first sub-high speed (160 km/h (99 mph)) passenger train in China started commercial operation between Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Fourth track of Guangshen railway under construction

In 1998, the electrification of two sub-high speed lines of Guangshen railway was finished. After the improvement the 200 km/h (124 mph) high speed trains are allowed to run on the existing subhigh speed railroad. A Swedish-built X 2000 tilting train called 'Xinshisu' began to serve intercity train service between Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as the through train to Hong Kong. The train are 165m long, consisting of a power car, five passenger cars, and a trailing car. The non-power cars can have a pitch of up to 8 degrees. They are noted for being very quiet (less than 65 dBA) even at 200 km/h (124 mph).

Construction of the fourth track was commenced at 31 December 2005, and was finished at 18 April 2007 in time for the Sixth Speed-Up Campaign. Since then Guangshen railway has been the first four-track railway in mainland China and it allows passenger trains and freight trains to run on separate lines.

CRH1A running on Guangshen railway

As of 2007, intercity train service between Guangzhou and Shenzhen uses 8-car CRH1A highspeed EMU. There are 100 pairs of trains operated daily.

Tickets of intercity trains as of 2008

Guangshen intercity service

Regular service

Regular service, served by CRH6A EMU for a departure, was waiting at Shenzhen railway station and heading for Guangzhou direction

At the front: Information plates that one at platform of Shenzhen railway station and another at the body of the train

Regular service between Guangzhou and Shenzhen uses 8-car CRH1A EMU or CRH6A EMU. In Shenzhen, regular service uses Shenzhen railway station.

CR200J trains running "Demand-relief"

The emergence of CR200J trains in Shenzhen city was started in December 2019 serving regular long-distance service numbered D727、D728 between Shenzhen Railway Station and Beijing West.

The use of CR200J trains that serve both Guangzhou and Shenzhen, if not counting cross-line services, was rare as observed within year 2023-2024 but not non-exist. One noteworthy example is, to begin with, an internet media reported that a temporally added service was available at several selected days from September to October of year 2023, mentioning a pair of cross-line service numbered D7495、D7496. D7496 made stop at Guangzhou North railway station according to observation from the ticket-selling machine.

Ticket Machine showing D7496 serves Guangzhou North railway station

The captioned pair of D7495、D7496 service terminates and departs at Shenzhen East railway station with a "very considerably long time span" staying in Shenzhen city in-between according to the official train service timetable of those selected days. This provided a quite obvious although "indirect" clue that "something may happen" if more demand-relief services were considered or anticipated as necesssary. Train numbers D7498、D7497, representing a shorter service travelling only within the Guangzhou-and-Shenzhen region, was eventually found to have providing service, with only limited ways (perhaps due to ad-hoc nature), if not the only two ways (if only counting those manifested before the departure) can confirm its existence as: (1) the official ticket-selling system or (2) obtaining information at Shenzhen East railway station or at Guangzhou East railway station.

Information Display in the passenger waiting area of Shenzhen East railway station

Platform of Shenzhen East railway station

Information Display at platform of Guangzhou East railway station, showing the final destination "Shenzhen East railway station" of D7497 service

Examples of temporally added service in peak-demand holidays between Guangzhou city and Shenzhen city, at which documented notice has been announced via the internet beforehand, include train number D9785-D9786 serving between Shenzhen East railway station and Guangzhou East railway station, and D9791-D9796 serving between Guangzhou East railway station and Shenzhen railway station.

Information Display at platform of Guangzhou East railway station, showing the final destination "Shenzhen railway station" of D9795 service

Rolling stock

Time	Rolling stocks using by Guangshen intercity trains
Before 1966	SL6 steam locomotive hauling 21 Series / 22 Series railway carriages
1966–mid-1970s	SL6 steam locomotive / Dongfanghong1 / DF diesel locomotive (from 1972) hauling 21 Series / 22 Series railway carriage Dongfanghong1 / DF diesel locomotive(from 1972) hauling 24 Series railway carriages with air-conditioning (91/92 Express)
1970s–late 1994	Locomotives: DF3 / ND2 / DF4B (from 1985) / DF9 diesel locomotive(from 1990s) Passenger coaches: 24 Series with air-conditioning / 25 Series / 22 Series / 22 Series railway carriages with air-conditioning
Late 1994–1998	Locomotives:DF4B / DF9 / DF11 diesel locomotive Passenger coaches:22 Series / Double-deck 25B Series with air-conditioning / 25Z Series
1998–2004	DF4B diesel locomotive hauling 22 Series / Double-deck 25B Series with air-conditioning / SS8 electric locomotive / DF11 diesel locomotive hauling 25Z Series / 25C Series railway carriage DDJ1 EMU(1999–2000) Xianfenghao EMU(2001) X2000 tilting train DJJ1 EMU (Blue Arrow)(from 2001)
2004–2006	DF4B diesel locomotive hauling Double-deck 25B Series with air-conditioning / SS8 electric locomotive / DF11 diesel locomotive hauling 25Z Series / 25C Series railway carriage X2000 tilting train / DJJ1 EMU (Blue Arrow)
2007–	DF11 diesel locomotive hauling 25Z Series railway carriage (Until 25 April 2007) DF4B diesel locomotive hauling Double-deck 25B Series with air-conditioning (Until 30 June 2007) DJJ1 EMU (Blue Arrow) (Until 25 April 2007) CRH1A EMU (from 1 February 2007) CR200J (from year 2023)

Stations

Stations with services

Most of the existing stations on the line are abandoned for passenger service, while reopening of a previously abandoned station after refurbishment can occur. Examples include Pinghu in year 2016 and Xintang in year 2024 .

As at year 2023, major stations on the line offering passengers service are, in order:

Station No.	Station Name	Chinese	Distance km		PRD MIR (CR C-train) transfers/connections	Metro transfers/connections	Location
GZQ	Guangzhou	广州	0	0	GFZ *  GQ	2   5	Yuexiu	Guangzhou
GGQ	Guangzhou East Guangzhoudong	广州东	8	8	SS *	1   3	Tianhe
RTQ	Dongguan	东莞	64	72		2	Shilong	Dongguan
DAQ	Changping	常平	18	90			Changping
ZOQ	Zhangmutou	樟木头	13	103			Zhangmutou
PHQ	Pinghu	平湖	24	127		10	Longgang	Shenzhen
BJQ	Shenzhen East Shenzhendong	深圳东	12	139		3 5
SZQ	Shenzhen	深圳	8	147		1 via Luohu 9 via Renmin South East Rail line via Lo Wu	Luohu

All existing stations

Existing stations
		Station Name English	Station Name Chinese	Total Distance	Transfer	Location	Grade	Notes
●	●	Guangzhou	广州	0	2  5	Yuexiu, Guangzhou	T	Stop station for a few number Guangzhou – Shenzhen trains (CRH)
｜	｜	Yunlu	云麓	4			4	Not for passenger service. Decommissioned in 2009.
●	●	Guangzhou East	广州东	8	1  3	Tianhe, Guangzhou	1	The stop and departure station for all Guangzhou–Shenzhen trains (CRH)
｜	●	Shipai	石牌	14			4	Not for passenger service.
｜	｜	Huangpu	黄埔	18			2	Not for passenger service.
｜	｜	Jiuyunhui	九运会					Decommissioned in 2002.
｜	●	Jishan	吉山	20			3	Not for passenger service.
●	●	Xiayuan	下元	27		Huangpu, Guangzhou	3	Not for passenger service.
｜	｜	Nangang	南岗	32			4	Decommissioned in 2009.
｜	●	Xintang	新塘	39		Zengcheng, Guangzhou	4	Reopened for passenger service since year 2024
｜	｜	Shapu	沙浦	45			5	Decommissioned in 2007.
｜	｜	Tangmei	塘美				4	Decommissioned in 2007.
●	●	Xiancun	仙村	51			4	Not for passenger service.
｜	｜	Shitan	石滩	60			4	Decommissioned in 2009.
｜	｜	Honghai	红海	64			4	Not for passenger service. Decommissioned in 2006.
｜	｜	Shilong	石龙	69		Shilong, Dongguan	3	Decommissioned in 2014.
●	●	Dongguan	东莞	72	2		2	Stopping station for all Guangzhou–Shenzhen trains (CRH)
｜	●	Chashan	茶山	75		Chashan, Dongguan	4	Not for passenger service.
｜	｜	Nanshe	南社	78			4	Decommissioned in 2007.
｜	｜	Hengli	横沥	84		Hengli, Dongguan	4	Decommissioned in 2009.
●	●	Changping	常平	90		Changping, Dongguan	2	Stopping station for Guangzhou–Shenzhen trains (CRH)
｜	｜	Tutang	土塘	94			5	Decommissioned
●	●	Zhangmutou	樟木头	103		Zhangmutou, Dongguan	3	Stopping station for Guangzhou–Shenzhen trains (CRH)
｜	｜	Lincun	林村			Tangxia, Dongguan	4	Decommissioned in 2010.
●	●	Tangtouxia	塘头厦	114			4	Not for passenger service.
｜	｜	Shigu	石鼓	119			4	Decommissioned in 2007.
｜	｜	Tiantangwei	天堂围	122		Fenggang, Dongguan	4	Decommissioned in 2007.
●	●	Pinghu	平湖	127	10	Longgang, Shenzhen	4	Stopping station for some Guangzhou–Shenzhen intercity trains (CRH)
｜	●	Pinghu South	平湖南	131				Not for passenger service.
｜	｜	Lilang	李朗				4	Decommissioned in 2007.
●	●	Shenzhen East	深圳东	139	35		3	Departure station for some non-high-speed trains. Regular CRH trains normally DO NOT stop here. In very limited occasions, or for demand-relief purpose mostly at those "ultimately most busiest" dates during peak demand periods, some trains, for example some of those "demand-relief trains", may depart or terminate here.
●	●	Sungang	笋岗	144		Luohu, Shenzhen	1	Not for passenger service.
●	●	Shenzhen	深圳	147	1 9		1	The departure station for all regular service trains (CRH)
↓ Through-service to/from Hung Hom (Kowloon) via East Rail line ↓

Cross-Line Traffic

Service heading to Guangzhou Baiyun Railway Station

Regular service stopping at Guangzhou Station, heading for Guangzhou Baiyun Railway Station

As mentioned in the Stations list in the "Stations" section in above, a few number of departures, using CRH trains, provide service to Guangzhou railway station. Starting year 2024, the captioned are further extended to Guangzhou Baiyun Railway Station as the terminal station, located at a short distance beyond the Guang-shen line.

Service heading to other cities

For traffic heading to other cities, there are services of EMUs using Guangzhou–Shenzhen railway as part of the route.

Guangzhou East to Shantou service

Daily trains are offered between Guangzhou East Railway Station and Chaoshan Railway Station, a few of them will continue to Shantou Railway Station; in addition, starting from 1 July 2018, one departure serving the Guangzhou East to Chaoshan service will continue to Xiamen.

Since not later than 26 June 2021, more EMU trains are available for service between Xiamen (or Xiamen North Station) and Guangzhou, at which two of them (using Xiamen North Station at the time of writing in June 2023) will continue to Nanning East Station. CRH2A EMU trains are in use for service between Xiamen North and Nanning. However, with effective from 11 October 2023 the captioned trains, formerly from Fujian heading to Guangxi province, are shorten to serve only between Fujian province and Guangzhou city.

Memory: D3653/D3652 train, served by CRH2A EMU, made a stop at Dongguan station, after departing from Nanpingshi (some 35km from Wuyishan) via Fuzhou, Xiamen North, and Shenzhen North stations, and after Dongguan station the train will continue to Guangzhou via Guang-Shen line, and the final destination for D3653/D3652 is Nanning East station at the time of writing in year 2023. This photo was taken in 30 June 2023. For opposite direction train number is D3651/D3654. IMPORTANT: According to the official "Train 12306" app, train number D3653/D3652 will still serve the above-mentioned stations by CRH2A train, except that the train will NOT stop at Dongguan station since 1 July 2023

Train serving Xiamen (North) - Guangzhou - Nanning (East) service. It's CRH2A EMU serving train number D3655/D3658 from Nanning (East) station...

...to Xiamenbei Station (see the final destination as shown on the display board of the train), which means Xiamen (North) station. For opposite direction train number is D3657/D3656

Between 15 January 2022 to 9 January 2024, train departures are available between Guangzhou East station and Ganzhou West railway station, with a pair of departures using CRH380A EMU trains, at which train G2775/G2778 departs from Guangzhou East station, and train G2777/G2776 departs from Ganzhou West station, as at June 2023 this service serves Dongguan station as well; in addition, another pair for the Guangzhou East to Ganzhou West service was added since 11 October 2022, with train number D1695/D1698 and D1697/D1696, at which CRH1E-250 train is in use as at June 2023.

CRH380A train serving train G2775 from Guangzhou East station and stopping at Dongguan station as at June 2023

Starting 10 July 2019 to 10 October 2023, there was a daily service between Shenzhen Railway Station and Huaiji Railway Station on Guiyang-Guangzhou HSR, which is the first utilizing the whole Guangzhou-Shenzhen line in full as part of the route; however, according to the new railway timetable effective from 11 October 2023, such direct train service no longer exist.

Starting from 10 January 2024, the cross-line traffic between Guangzhou East station and Ganzhou West railway station no longer serves the Dongguan city.

For CRH2A EMU trains running on the entire Guangzhou-Shenzhen line fully, since not later than year 2023, EMU train service is previously available between Shenzhen Station (the one near the Hong Kong border) and Liuzhou via Guangzhou, at which CRH2A EMU train is in use for this daily service (numbered D3665/D3666); however, with effective from 11 October 2023, train number D3665/D3666 no longer serves Shenzhen and Dongguan, and for Guangzhou the train stops at Guangzhou South Station instead.

In June 2023, CRH2A EMU train serves Shenzhen Station by running the train number D3666 (from Shenzhen to Liuzhou at that moment)

Image gallery

• 
  Bond agreement signed in 1907
• 
  Foundation ceremony of the Chinese Section of KCR in 1909. Group photo of both Chinese and British officials.

See also

• China Railway
• List of railway lines in China
• Rail transport in China
• Kowloon–Canton Railway
• Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link
• Guangzhou–Shanwei high-speed railway

External links

• Guangshen Railway (official site)
• MTR Intercity Passenger Services