POSTWAR RESTORATION AND CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY LINES IN CHINA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700190292-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2011
• Sequence Number: 292
• Publication Date: July 21, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

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STAT
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POSTWAR Rr^.STORATION AND CONSTRUCPION
OF RAILWAY LIIPES IN CHINA
Chun -kuo T~ieh-lu Chi Ch'i Fa_tien-ti Ch'u-hale
Chinese Railways and Trends of Development
Kowloon, Oct 1950
[Comment: This report summarizes briefly Chapters j, $~ 9,
and 10 of the above-mentioned source. Chapter 7 deals with the
iamediste repairs, improvements, and replacements needed in the
restoration of existing railway lines. Chapter f3 deals with
the plan for construction of new lines in the future. Chapter
9 Sivas the estimated cost of construction of uew lines. Chapter
10 discusses problems concerning ttie collection of construction
materials.]
The period between 1926-1937 was the most prosperous period of the rail-
way industry in China; tunny new lines were built and many old lines were re-
paired.
After the beginning of the Sino-Japanese war and the war between the
Nationalists and the Communists, the condition of the railways began to
deteriorate rapidly. Now many tracks, bridges; tunnels, locomotives, roll-
ing stock, etc., are seriously in need of repairs, improvement, and replace-
ment.
Tracks need attention most urgently. During 'Che war between China and
Japan, and the war between the Naticnalists and the Communists, many tracks
were madeedurianggthe ~rdestroyed, or str+.pped and relocated. Some repairs
with many different typesyaadssifleshofgrailsmosAtcpresenthea lnrgetnamberrof
rails as light as 30 pounds per yard are still being used on the main lines.
These light rails must be replaced with the standard rails of 80 pounds per
yard. On the main lines many rails are joined with two flat iror plates,
but these improvised plates must be replaced with regular fishplates immedi-
ate ~}?.
Nearly all the railway bridges in Chine are in serious condition after
10 or more years of disrepair. In moat cases the structure of the bridges
iR too xeak to permit the passage oP trains at normal speed. About half of
the total number of bridges on the Pei-Han Line, the Yueh-Han line, and the
Lung-Hai line suffered various degrees of damage during the Sino-Japanese
war, and a few more were damaged during the war between the Nationalists and
the Communists. Some temporary repairs have been made to those bridges.
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Many types and sizes of locomotives are bei
are old and some
n
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have are nex, but almost all are the
roaPeburningnt~ina. Some
higher couplers than the others; some have automatic couplers. Frei t
car sizec range from ype? Some
all of them are worn beto 50 tons in losd capacity, and the xheels on nearly
yond the degree considered saps for operation.
Repairing or replacing xorn out locomotive and rolling stock
standardizing couplers and sizes of freight cars x311 re uire a
of money, but these thin s Parts, and
equipment or constructing must be done immediately before large amount
8 nex lines. Purchasing nex
Construction of Nex Lines
Many proposed railxay construction plena have been drawn u b
or authoritative personnel in China, including Sun Yat-sen.
sidered as having the moat logical vi P Y rromineat
ist Government. This ewPoint and Nis plan xae con-
plan, xhich was was adopted by the National-
of Sino-Japanese xar, called for the constructioin ~airhelfolloainthe cessation
1? Chai-i-_Wei-ni 8 lines:
line eastward to ~ section of the Nsu_Kan line, and extension of thin
the Chun Kuei-yang, Construction of the Chungkin
ien- g't'u line ~
the T' 8king-Chen , the T ien-shui__~nchow g'"Kuei-yang line,
shui--Ia;~chox line to FIa_mi~ Sinkian line, and extension of
g, via Chiu-ch'uan and Yu-men.
2? Sai-Pin--Li-yang section of the Iisiang_Kuei line a
this line southxard to Chan-chiang. This would provide the line which con-
nects Lanchow , , nd extension of
Cheng_t u, and Kuei-yang with a seaport.
3. Ching_chiang__Kan-hsier. line in Kiangsi Province, and extension of
this line southxard to Chu-chiang. 'Phis line would hel
mineral resources in the southern portion of Kiangsi Province.
P the development of
4? Southern portion of the Ching_Kan line, and ertens?.on of this line
southward to Foochox via Kuei-chi and Nan-ping, Also, extension of this
hsien
line ; ?to ?conne~ctditromtharhe'Csnton_Shih-lung, yin Chan g and t?Sei-
line southward from Chan Powloon line. A1soE extension of this
the southeastern g"P'ing to Amoy via Chang-chow. This would provide
coast of China with an adequate transportation network.
another lineiconnecting Tientsin andcPei via Ninghsia.
Pao-t'ou, and Ianchox. Ping with the NorthwestuviaPKalgaa,
~? K'ai-feng_-Tsinan line to connect Tsingtao directly with K'ai-fe
via Tsinan, and to create another east-west main line besides the Lun
line, ng,
B-Nei
7. Iisiang_tan__T'u_yun sertion of the Nsiang-.Ch'ien line.
vialNaachoWde the third east-west main line between Shan r
This lice
the developmenue~i,--chi, Chu-thou, and Kuei-yang, The ghai and IC un-ming,
?~@'81'rssouroes..:in the western sectioneof Hunan Province.
8. Cheng_t'u__~_shan, Nei-chiang-_K'ang_ting, and 1_
thing 13nes to help the development of natural. resources in Szechwan and
Sikaag provinces. Fin--Tzu-liu-
9. Yunnan-Burma line to the Burmese border to facilitate trade with
the Southeast Asiatic countries.
?
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10. Lanchow-_gsi-Wing line to provide far the future c:'.at1}/on of this
line southwar~ +.. +~.., ,. _...~
11. Ch'eag-te--Ch'ih-feng--T'ung_liao line it '
the connection between China proper and the Northea_ ?~
12. Ch'eng-chih--Ching-hua line to help the developaent of coal fields
along this line.
13? F{ua-yuan__gsiang-yang line to provide f^r the expansion of Chic
line in the future from Hankow to Sian, or from Tzu-yang to Szechwan Province.
14. Liu-thou--San-shui line to improve the transportation between South-
west China and Canton.
15. Li F ang--Chen-Wan-Y,uan line to connect this line with the inter-
national line.
Cost of New Construction
About 60 percent of the total construction fund in the building of nex
railway lines goes into construction of the roadbed and bridges, and the pur-
chasing of rails, locomotives, and rolling stock. DurinE 1935, the average
construction cost of a kilometer of railway in China was about 115,300 yuan,
prewar value of silver currency. Of the total, 8,000 }van was for construc-
tion of the roadbed, 24,000 yuan for construction of bridges, 19,000 yuan to
purchase rails, and 24,000 ;roan to purchase locomotives and rolling stock.
~"--ccording to these averages, the amount of construction funds needed to com-
plete the pro3ected lines described in the preceding chanter will total about
1,388,000,000 yuan in pre-war value of silver currency. In addition, about
485 million US dollars worth of other equipment and instnlla*.ions are needed
to complete the pra,jected lines.
Construction 1?faterials
24ost of the construction materials needed for the building of new rail-
way lines in Chinn must be imported from the foreign countries. Before the
Sina-Japanese war, a small amount of rails were being manufactured at the
An-shan Steelworks, but not after World Ylar II. Some locomotives were alao
being manufactured at a railway factory near Dairen during the Japar^se regime,
but none has been manufactured since the end of World Flar II. Both of these
factories were almost completely stripped by the Soviet after World SJar I2,
and the restoration of the factories has been extremely slow.
Only a small amount of other items, such as railway ties, switches,
signals, telephone and telegraphic ap;:aratus, cement, steel reinforcing ma-
terials, bricks, metal products, pumas, generators, picks end shovels, pipes
and tubings, explosives and fuel, and the thousands of other materials needed
for construction of railway lines are now being produced in China. :1lmoat
all must be imported from the foreign countries.
t?Ihen machinery, equipment, and materials are purchased from the foreign
countries, there is a problem of matching these goods with the specification
and condition of the railway lines existing in Chinn. Tn the past, the rail-
way lines in China were built mostly crith the machinery and equipmen* purchased
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Prom Eagland, France, Germany, Japan, etc., which have different specifications
frog those manufactured in the U5, and in several other countries. This prob-
lem is very serious, since purchasing of these materials in a large quantity
Prom the countries other than the U3 at present is not feasible. Hoxever seri-
ous it may be, this problem moat be solved before undertaking any new construc-
tion or mayor repairs oP existing lines.
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