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Chongqing

Chongqing is a municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the Central People's Government, along with Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. It is the only directly administrated municipality located deep inland. The municipality covers a large geographical area roughly the size of Austria, which includes several disjunct urban areas in addition to Chongqing proper. Due to its classification, the municipality of Chongqing is the largest city proper in the world by area, though it does not have the largest urban area.

The municipality of Chongqing is the only Chinese municipality with resident population of over 30 million ; however, this number includes its large rural population. In 2020, Chongqing surpassed Shanghai as China's largest municipality by urban population;, it has an urban population of 22.8 million. The municipality contains 26 districts, 8 counties, and 4 autonomous counties. The city served as the wartime capital for the Republic of China (ROC) during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). On 14 March 1997, the current municipality was separated from the surrounding province of Sichuan, with the goal of furthering development in the central and western parts of the country.

As one of China's National Central Cities, Chongqing serves as a center for finance in the Sichuan Basin and the upstream Yangtze, as well as for manufacturing and transportation. It is a connection in the Yangtze River Economic Belt and a base for the country's Belt and Road Initiative. Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport is the second-busiest airport in China, and is one of the top 50 busiest airports in the world. The city's monorail system is the world's longest and busiest, as well as having the greatest number of stations, with 70. Chongqing is ranked as a Beta (global second-tier) city. It is the headquarters of the Changan Automobile, one of the "Big Four" car manufacturers of China. , the city hosts 12 foreign representations, the fifth-most in China behind Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu. It is one of the top 40 cities globally by scientific research output, as tracked by the Nature Index; the municipality is home to several notable universities, including Chongqing University, Southwest University, and Chongqing Normal University.

Antiquity
Chongqing's location is historically associated with the State of Ba. Its capital was first called Jiangzhou (江州).

Imperial era
Jiangzhou subsequently remained under Qin Shi Huang's rule during the Qin dynasty, the successor of the Qin State, as well as the rule of Han dynasty emperors. Jiangzhou was subsequently renamed during the Northern and Southern dynasties to Chu Prefecture (楚州), then again in 581 AD (Sui dynasty) to Yu Prefecture (渝州), and later in 1102 during Northern Song to Gong Prefecture (恭州). The name Yu however survives to this day as an abbreviation for Chongqing, as well as for the city's historic center, where the old town once stood; its name is Yuzhong (渝中, Central Yu). It received its current name in 1189, after Prince Zhao Dun of the Southern Song dynasty described his crowning as king and then Emperor Guangzong as a "double celebration" (, or chóngqìng in short). To mark the occasion of his enthronement, Yu Prefecture was therefore converted to Chongqing Fu.

In 1362 (during the Yuan dynasty), Ming Yuzhen, a peasant rebel leader, established the Daxia Kingdom (大夏) at Chongqing for a short time. In 1621 (during the Ming dynasty), another short-lived kingdom of Daliang (大梁) was established by She Chongming (奢崇明) with Chongqing as its capital. In 1644, after the fall of the Ming dynasty to a rebel army, Chongqing, together with the rest of Sichuan, was captured by Zhang Xianzhong, who was said to have massacred a large number of people in Sichuan and depopulated the province, in part by causing many people to flee to safety elsewhere. The Manchus later conquered the province, and during the Qing dynasty, immigration to Chongqing and Sichuan took place with the support of the Qing emperor.

In 1890, the British Consulate General was opened in Chongqing. The following year, the city became the first inland commerce port open to foreigners, with the proviso that foreign ships should not be at liberty to trade there until Chinese-owned steamers had succeeded in ascending the river. This restriction was abolished by the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, which declared the city open on the same terms as other ports, although it was not until 1907 that a steamship made the journey without the help of manual haulers. From 1896 to 1904, the American, German, French, and Japanese consulates were opened in Chongqing.

Provisional wartime capital of the Republic of China
During and after the Second Sino-Japanese War, from November 1937 to May 1946, it was Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's provisional capital. After the General and remaining army had lived there for a time following their retreat in 1938 from the previous capital of Wuhan, it was formally declared the second capital city on 6 September 1940. After Britain, the United States, and other Allies entered the war in Asia in December 1941, one of the Allies' deputy commanders of operations in South East Asia (South East Asia Command SEAC), Joseph Stilwell, was based in the city. This made it a city of world importance in the fight against Axis powers, together with London, Moscow and Washington, D.C.

The city was also visited by Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Supreme Commander of SEAC which was itself headquartered in Ceylon, modern day Sri Lanka. Chiang Kai Shek as Supreme Commander in China worked closely with Stilwell. From 1938 to 1943, the city suffered from continuous massive bombing campaigns of the Imperial Japanese Navy and Army Air Forces; battles of which were fought entirely by the Chinese Air Force squadrons and anti-aircraft artillery units. Many lives were saved by the air-raid shelters which took advantage of the mountainous terrain. Chongqing was acclaimed to be the "City of Heroes" due to the indomitable spirits of its people as well as their contributions and sacrifices during the War of Resistance-World War II. Many factories and universities were relocated from eastern China and ultimately to Chongqing during years of setbacks in the war, transforming this city from inland port to a heavily industrialized city. In late November 1949, the Nationalist KMT government retreated from the city.

Municipality status
On 14 March 1997, the Eighth National People's Congress decided to merge the sub-provincial city with adjacent Fuling, Wanxian, and Qianjiang prefectures that it had governed on behalf of the province since September 1996, and grant it independence from Sichuan. The resulting single entity became Chongqing Municipality, containing 30,020,000 people in forty-three former counties (without intermediate political levels). The municipality became the spearhead of China's effort to develop its western regions and to coordinate the resettlement of residents from the reservoir areas of the Three Gorges Dam project. Its first official ceremony took place on 18 June 1997.

On 8 February 2010, Chongqing became one of the four National Central/Core cities, the other three are Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin. The same year on June 18, the Liangjiang New Area was established in Chongqing, which was the third state-level new area at the time of its establishment.

Physical geography and topography
Chongqing is situated at the transitional area between the Tibetan Plateau and the plain on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the sub-tropical climate zone often swept by moist monsoons. It often rains at night in late spring and early summer, and thus the city is famous for its "night rain in the Ba Mountains", as described by poems throughout Chinese history including the famous Written on a Rainy Night-A Letter to the North by Li Shangyin. The municipality reaches a maximum length of 470 km from east to west, and a maximum width of 450 km from north to south. It borders the following provinces: Hubei in the east, Hunan in the southeast, Guizhou in the south, Sichuan in the west and northwest, and Shaanxi to the north in its northeast corner.

Chongqing covers a large area crisscrossed by rivers and mountains. The Daba Mountains stand in the north, the Wu Mountains in the east, the Wuling Mountains in the southeast, and the Dalou Mountains in the south. The whole area slopes down from north and south towards the Yangtze River valley, with sharp rises and falls. The area is featured by a large geological massif, of mountains and hills, with large sloping areas at different heights. Typical karst landscape is common in this area, and stone forests, numerous collections of peaks, limestone caves and valleys can be found in many places. The Longshuixia Gap (龙水峡地缝), with its natural arch-bridges, has made the region a popular tourist attraction. The Yangtze River runs through the whole area from west to east, covering a course of 665 km, cutting through the Wu Mountains at three places and forming the well-known Three Gorges: the Qutang, the Wuxia and the Xiling gorges. Coming from northwest and running through "the Jialing Lesser Three Gorges" of Libi, Wentang and Guanyin, the Jialing River joins the Yangtze in Chongqing.

The central urban area of Chongqing, or Chongqing proper, is a city of unique features. Built on mountains and partially surrounded by the Yangtze and Jialing rivers, it is known as a "mountain city" and a "city on rivers". The night scene of the city is very illuminated, with millions of lights and their reflection on the rivers. With its special topographical features, Chongqing has the unique scenery of mountains, rivers, forests, springs, waterfalls, gorges, and caves. Li Bai, a famous poet of the Tang dynasty, was inspired by the natural scenery and wrote this epigram.

Specifically, the central urban area is located on a huge folding area. Yuzhong District, Nan'an District, Shapingba District and Jiangbei District are located right on a big syncline. And the "Southern Mountain of Chongqing" (Tongluo Mountain), along with the Zhongliang Mountain are two anticlines next to the syncline of downtown.

Zhongliang Mountains and Tongluo Mountains  roughly forms the eastern and western boundaries of Chongqing's urban area. The highest point in downtown is the top of Eling Hill, which is a smaller syncline hill that separates the Yangtze River and Jialing River. The elevation of Eling Hill is 379 m. The lowest point is Chaotian Gate, where the two rivers merge with each other. The altitude there is 160 m. The average height of the area is 259 m. However, there are several high mountains outside central Chongqing, such as the Wugong Ling Mountain, with the altitude of 1709.4 m, in Jiangjin.

Climate
Chongqing has a monsoonal humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa), bordering on a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) and for most of the year experiences very high relative humidity, with all months above 75%. Known as one of the "Three Furnaces" of the Yangtze River, along with Wuhan and Nanjing, its summers are long and among the hottest and most humid in China, with highs of 34 °C in July and August in the urban area. Winters are short and somewhat mild, but damp and overcast. The city's location in the Sichuan Basin causes it to have one of the lowest annual sunshine totals nationally, at only 983 hours, lower than much of Northern Europe; the monthly percent possible sunshine in the city proper ranges from a mere 5% in January to 43% in August. Extremes since 1951 have ranged from −1.8 °C on 15 December 1975 (unofficial record of -2.5 °C was set on 8 February 1943) to 43.7 °C on 18 and 19 August 2022 (unofficial record of 44.0 °C was set on 8 and 9 August 1933).

Chongqing, with over 100 days of fog per year, is known as the "Fog City" (雾都); this is because in the spring and fall, a thick layer of fog enshrouds it for 68 days per year. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, this special weather possibly played a role in protecting the city from being overrun by the Imperial Japanese Army.

Politics
Since 1997 Chongqing has been a direct-controlled municipality in the Chinese administrative structure, making it a provincial-level division with commensurate political importance. The municipality's leader is Secretary of the Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, which since 2007, has also held a seat on the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, the country's second highest governing council. Under the USSR-inspired nomenklatura system of appointments, individuals are appointed to the position by the central leadership of the CCP and bestowed to an official based on seniority and adherence to party orthodoxy, usually given to an individual with prior regional experience elsewhere in China and nearly never a native of Chongqing. Notable individuals who have held the municipal Party Secretary position include He Guoqiang, Wang Yang, Bo Xilai, Zhang Dejiang, and Sun Zhengcai, the latter three were Politburo members during their term as party chief. The party chief heads the municipal party standing committee, the de facto top governing council of the municipality. The standing committee is typically composed of 13 individuals which includes the party chiefs of important subdivisions and other leading figures in the local party and government organization, as well as one military representative.

The municipal People's Government serves as the day-to-day administrative authority, and is headed by the mayor, who is assisted by numerous vice mayors and mayoral assistants. Each vice mayor is given jurisdiction over specific municipal departments. The mayor is the second-highest-ranking official in the municipality. The mayor usually represents the city when foreign guests visit.

The municipality also has a People's Congress, theoretically elected by lower level People's Congresses. The People's Congress nominally appoints the mayor and approves the nominations of other government officials. The People's Congress, like those of other provincial jurisdictions, is generally seen as a symbolic body. It convenes in full once a year to approve party-sponsored resolutions and local regulations and duly confirm party-approved appointments. On occasion the People's Congress can be venues of discussion on municipal issues, although this is dependent on the actions of individual delegates. The municipal People's Congress is headed by a former municipal official, usually in their late fifties or sixties, with a lengthy prior political career in Chongqing. The municipal Political Consultative Conference (zhengxie) meets at around the same time as the People's Congress. Its role is to advise on political issues. The zhengxie is headed by a leader who is typically a former municipal or regional official with a lengthy career in the party and government bureaucracy.

Military
Chongqing was the wartime capital of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War (i.e., World War II), and from 1937 to 1945, the seat of administration for the Republic of China's government before its departure to Nanjing and then Taiwan. After the eventual defeat at the Battle of Wuhan General Chiang-Kai Shek and the army were forced to use it as base of resistance from 1938 onwards. It also contains a military museum named after the Chinese Korean War hero Qiu Shaoyun.

Chongqing used to be the headquarters of the 13th Group Army of the People's Liberation Army, one of the two group armies that formerly comprised the Chengdu Military Region, which in 2016 was re-organized into the Western Theater Command.

Administrative divisions
Chongqing is the largest of the four direct-controlled municipalities of the People's Republic of China. The municipality is divided into 38 subdivisions (3 were abolished in 1997, and Wansheng and Shuangqiao districts were abolished in October 2011 ), consisting of 26 districts, 8 counties, and 4 autonomous counties. The boundaries of Chongqing municipality reach much farther into the city's hinterland than the boundaries of the other three provincial level municipalities (Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin), and much of its administrative area, which spans over 80000 sqkm, is rural. At the end of year 2018, the total population is 31.02 million. As of 2022, Chongqing is the largest Chinese city by urban population, with a population of 22.80 million.

Urban areas
a Indicates with which district the division was associated below prior to the merging of Chongqing, Fuling, Wanxian (now Wanzhou) and Qianjiang in 1997.

Central Chongqing
The main urban area of Chongqing city (重庆主城区) spans approximately 5473 km2, and includes the following nine districts:
 * Yuzhong District (渝中区, literally "Central Chongqing District"), the central and most densely populated district, where government and international business offices and the city's best shopping are located in the district's Jiefangbei CBD area. Yuzhong is located on the peninsula surrounded by Eling Hill, Yangtze River and Jialing River.
 * Jiangbei District (江北区, literally "North of the River District"), located to the north of Jialing River.
 * Shapingba District (沙坪坝区), roughly located between Jialing River and Zhongliang Mountain.
 * Jiulongpo District (九龙坡区), roughly located between Yangtze River and Zhongliang Mountain.
 * Nan'an District (南岸区, literally "Southern Bank District"), located on the south side of Yangtze River.
 * Dadukou District (大渡口区)
 * Banan District (巴南区, literally "Southern of Ba District"). Previously called Ba County, and changed to the current name in 1994.
 * Yubei District (渝北区, or "Northern Chongqing District"). Previously called Jiangbei County, and changed into the current name in 1994.
 * Beibei District (北碚区), a satellite district northwest of Chongqing.

Population

According to the 2020 national census, Chongqing has a population of 32,054,159, accounting for around 2.27% of the national total. This makes it the most populous city proper in the world. , the metropolitan area encompassing the central urban area was estimated by the OECD to have, a population of 17 million.

The Census also lists the male percentage as 50.55% and the female percentage as 49.55%. In terms of age distribution, of the total population, 15.91% were age 0–14, 62.22% were 15–64, and 21.87% were 65 and over. Of the population's highest education level achieved, 15.41% were college, 15.96% were high school, 30.58% were middle school, and 29.89% were elementary school. , 70.4% of Chongqing's population is estimated to be urban, and 29.6%.

Religion
The predominant religions in Chongqing are Chinese folk religions, Taoist traditions and Chinese Buddhism. According to surveys conducted in 2007 and 2009, 26.63% of the population practices Chinese ancestral religion, while 1.05% of the population identifies as Christian.

The reports did not give figures for other types of religion; 72.32% of the population may be either irreligious or involved in worship of nature deities, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, or folk religious sects.

In 2010, there were 9,056 Muslims in Chongqing.

Economy
There has been a massive government push to transform Chongqing into the region's economic, trade, and financial center and use the municipality as a platform to open up the country's western interior to further development. Chongqing is facing rapid urbanization. For instance, statistics suggest that new construction added approximately 137,000 m2 daily of usable floor space to satisfy demands for residential, commercial and factory space. Thus, Chongqing was separated from Sichuan province and made into a municipality in its own right on 14 March 1997 in order to accelerate its development and subsequently China's relatively poorer western areas (see China Western Development strategy). By the 2000s the city had become an important industrial area in western China.

, Chongqing's nominal GDP was US$433 billion (CN¥ 2.91 trilion), about 2.41% of the country's GDP and ranked 16th among province-level administrative units; the municipality's primary, secondary and tertiary industries were worth CN¥201.21 billion (US$29.92 billion), CN¥1.169 trillion (US$173.86 billion) and CN¥1.542 trillion (US$229.3 billion) respectively. Its nominal GDP per capita was US$13,479 (CN¥90,663) and ranked 10th in the country.

Chongqing has been identified by the Economist Intelligence Unit in the November 2010 Access China White Paper as a member of the CHAMPS (Chongqing, Hefei, Anshan, Maanshan, Pingdingshan and Shenyang), an economic profile of the top 20 emerging cities in China.

Traditionally, due to its geographic inaccessibility, Chongqing and Sichuan have both been important military bases in weapons research and development. Even though Chongqing's industries are diversified, unlike eastern China, its export sector is small due to its relatively disadvantageous inland location. Instead, factories producing local-oriented consumer goods such as processed food, cars, chemicals, textiles, machinery, sports equipment and electronics are common.

Chongqing is China's third largest motor vehicle production center and the largest for motorcycles. In 2007, it had an annual output capacity of 1 million cars and 8.6 million motorcycles. Leading makers of cars and motorbikes includes China's fourth biggest automaker; Changan Automotive Corp and Lifan Hongda Enterprise, as well as Ford Motor Company, with the US car giant having 3 plants in Chongqing. The municipality is also one of China's nine largest iron and steel producers in China as well as one of its three major aluminum producers. Important manufacturers include Chongqing Iron and Steel Company (重庆钢铁股份有限公司) and Southwest Aluminum (西南鋁業), which is Asia's largest aluminum plant. Agriculture remains significant. Rice and fruits, especially oranges, are the area's main produce. Natural resources are also abundant with large deposits of coal, natural gas, and more than 40 kinds of minerals such as strontium and manganese. Coal reserves total approximately 4,800,000,000 t. Chuandong Natural Gas Field is China's largest inland gas field with deposits of around 270 billion m3 – more than 1/5 of China's total. Has China's largest reserve of strontium (China has the world's 2nd biggest strontium deposit). Manganese is mined in the Xiushan area. Although the mining sector has been denounced as heavily polluting and unsafe. Chongqing is also planned to be the site of a 10 million ton capacity refinery operated by CNPC (parent company of PetroChina) to process imported crude oil from the Sino-Burma pipelines. The pipeline itself, though not yet finished, will eventually run from Sittwe (in Myanmar's western coast) through Kunming in Yunnan before reaching Chongqing and it will provide China with fuels sourced from Myanmar, the Middle East and Africa. Recently, there has been a drive to move up the value chain by shifting towards high technology and knowledge intensive industries resulting in new development zones such as the Chongqing New North Zone (CNNZ). Chongqing's local government is hoping through the promotion of favorable economic policies for the electronics and information technology sectors, that it can create a 400 billion RMB high technology manufacturing hub which will surpass its car industry and account for 25% of its exports.

The city has also invested heavily in infrastructure to attract investment. The network of roads and railways connecting Chongqing to the rest of China has been expanded and upgraded reducing logistical costs. Furthermore, the nearby Three Gorges Dam which is the world's largest, supplies Chongqing with power and allows oceangoing ships to reach Chongqing's Yangtze River port. These infrastructure improvements have led to the arrivals of numerous foreign direct investors (FDI) in industries ranging from car to finance and retailing; such as Ford, Mazda, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, ANZ Bank, Scotiabank, Wal-Mart, Metro AG and Carrefour, among other multinational corporations.

Economic and technological development zones
The city includes a number of economic and technological development zones:
 * Chongqing Chemical Industrial Park
 * Chongqing Economic & Technological Development Zone
 * Chongqing Hi-Tech Industry Development Zone
 * Chongqing New North Zone (CNNZ)
 * Chongqing Export Processing Zone
 * Jianqiao Industrial Park (located in Dadukou District)
 * Liangjiang New Area
 * Liangjiang Cloud Computing Center (the largest of its kind in China)

Chongqing itself is part of the West Triangle Economic Zone, along with Chengdu and Xi'an.

Education and research
, Chongqing hosts 70 institutions of higher education (excluding adult colleges), making it the fourth city with the most higher education institutions nationwide and the first city in Western China, which comprises Chongqing, six provinces (Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Qinghai), and three autonomous regions (Tibet, Ningxia, and Xinjiang), with a combination of more than 290 million population.

Chongqing is one of the top 40 cities in the world by scientific research outputs as tracked by the Nature Index.

Colleges and universities

 * Chongqing University (重庆大学)
 * Southwest University (西南大学)
 * Chongqing University of Science and Technology (重庆科技学院)
 * Southwest University of Political Science and Law (西南政法大学)
 * Army Medical University (第三军医大学)
 * Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications (重庆邮电大学)
 * Chongqing University of Technology (重庆理工大学)
 * Chongqing Jiaotong University (重庆交通大学)
 * Chongqing Medical University (重庆医科大学)
 * Chongqing Normal University (重庆师范大学)
 * Chongqing Technology and Business University (重庆工商大学)
 * Chongqing Three Gorges University (重庆三峡学院)
 * Chongqing Telecommunication Institute (重庆通讯学院)
 * Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (四川美术学院)
 * Sichuan International Studies University (四川外国语大学)
 * University of Logistics (后勤工程学院)
 * Chongqing University of Arts and Science (重庆文理学院)
 * Yangtze Normal University (长江师范学院)
 * Chongqing University of Education (重庆第二师范学院)

Notable high schools

 * Chongqing Changshou Middle School (重庆市长寿中学校)
 * Fuling Experimental High School (涪陵实验中学)
 * Chongqing No.1 Middle School (重庆一中)
 * Chongqing Nankai Secondary School (重庆南开中学)
 * Chongqing No.8 Secondary School (重庆八中)
 * Bashu Secondary School (巴蜀中学)
 * Chongqing Railway High School (重庆铁路中学)
 * Chongqing Yucai Secondary School (育才中学)
 * Chongqing Foreign Language School (The High School Affiliated to Sichuan International Studies University 重庆一外)
 * Verakin High School of Chongqing (The 2nd Chongqing Foreign Language School, 重庆二外)
 * Chongqing Qiujing High School (求精中学)
 * High School Affiliated to Southwest University (西南大学附中)
 * Chongqing NO.18 Secondary School (重庆十八中)

International schools

 * Yew Chung International School of Chongqing (重庆耀中国际学校)
 * KL International School of Chongqing Bashu (重庆市诺林巴蜀外籍人员子女学校)

Transportation
Since its elevation to national-level municipality in 1997, the city has dramatically expanded its infrastructure. With the construction of railways and expressways to the east and southeast, Chongqing is a major transportation hub in southwestern China.

, the municipality had 31 bridges across the Yangtze River including over a dozen in the city's urban core. Aside from the city's first two Yangtze River bridges, which were built, respectively, in 1960 and 1977, all of the other bridges were completed since 1995.

Chongqing Rail Transit

Public transport in Chongqing consists of metro, intercity railway, a ubiquitous bus system and the world's largest monorail network.

According to the Chongqing Municipal Government's ambitious plan in May 2007, Chongqing is investing 150 billion RMB over 13 years to finish a system that combines underground metro lines with heavy monorail.

, four metro lines, the 14 km long CRT Line 1, a conventional subway, and the 19 km long heavy monorail CRT Line 2 (through Phase II), Line 3, a heavy monorail connects the airport and the southern part of downtown. Line 6, runs between Beibei, a district in the city's far north to downtown. Line 5 opened in late 2017.

By 2020 CRT will consist of 6 lines and 1 loop line resulting in 363.5 km of road and railway to the existing transportation infrastructure and 93 new metro stations will be added to the 111 stations that are already in place.

By 2050, Chongqing will have as many as 18 lines that are planned to be in operation.

Aerial tramway
Chongqing is the only Chinese city that has kept public aerial tramways. Historically there were three aerial tramways in Chongqing: the Yangtze River Tramway, the Jialing River Tramway and the South Mountain Tramway. Currently, only Yangtze River Tramway is still in operation, it is also considered a Class 4A Tourist Attraction. The 1,160 m-long tramway connects the southern and northern banks of Yangtze River; its daily passenger volume is about 10,000.

Rail

Major stations in Chongqing:

 * Chongqing railway station in Yuzhong, accessible via Metro Lines 1 & 3 (Lianglukou Metro station), is the city's oldest railway station and located near the Jiefangbei CBD in the city center. The station handles mostly long-distance trains. There are plans for a major renovation and overhaul of this station, thus many services have been transferred to Chongqing North railway station.
 * Chongqing North railway station is a station handling many long-distance services and high-speed rail services to Chengdu, Beijing and other cities. It was completed in 2006 and is connected to Metro Line.
 * Chongqing West railway station is in Shapingba, a station handling many long-distance services and high-speed rail services to many cities. It was completed in 2018.
 * Shapingba railway station is in Shapingba, near Shapingba CBD, accessible via Shapingba metro station on Lines 1, 9 and the Loop line. It handles many local and regional train services. It was completed in 2018.
 * Another railway station, Chongqing East, is currently under construction and is expected to be completed in 2025.

Chongqing is a major freight destination for rail with continued development with improved handling facilities. Due to subsidies and incentives, the relocation and construction of many factories in Chongqing has seen a huge increase in rail traffic.

Chongqing is a major rail hub regionally.
 * Chengdu–Chongqing railway (to Chengdu, Sichuan Province)
 * Sichuan–Guizhou railway (to Guiyang, Guizhou Province)
 * Xiangyang–Chongqing railway (to Hubei Province)
 * Chongqing–Huaihua railway (to Hunan Province)
 * Suining–Chongqing railway (to Sichuan Province)
 * Chongqing–Lichuan railway (to Hubei Province)
 * Lanzhou–Chongqing railway railway (to Gansu Province)

River port
Chongqing is one of the most important inland ports in China. There are numerous luxury cruise ships that terminate at Chongqing, cruising downstream along the Yangtze River to Yichang, Wuhan, Nanjing or even Shanghai. In the recent past, this provided virtually the only transportation option along the river. However, improved rail, expressways and air travel have seen this ferry traffic reduced or cancelled altogether. Most of the river ferry traffic consists of leisure cruises for tourists rather than local needs. Improved access by larger cargo vessels has been made due to the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. This allows bulk transport of goods along the Yangtze River. Coal, raw minerals and containerized goods provide the majority of traffic plying this section of the river. Several port handling facilities exist throughout the city, including many impromptu river bank sites.

Highways
Traditionally, the road network in Chongqing has been narrow, winding and limited to smaller vehicles because of the natural terrain, large rivers and the huge population demands on the area, especially in the Yuzhong District. In other places, such as Jiangbei, large areas of homes and buildings have recently been cleared to improve the road network and create better urban planning; thus, several ring roads have also been constructed. This has seen many tunnels and large bridges needing to be built across the city. The construction of many expressways have connected Chongqing to its neighbors. The natural mountainous terrain that Chongqing is built on makes many road projects difficult to construct, including for example some of the world's highest road bridges.

Unlike many other Chinese cities, it is rare for motorbikes, electric scooters or bicycles to be seen on Chongqing's Roads. This is due to the extremely hilly and mountainous nature of Chongqing's roads and streets. However, despite this, Chongqing is a manufacturing center for these types of vehicles.

 * Chongqing-Chengdu Expressway
 * Chongqing-Chengdu 2nd Expressway (under construction)
 * Chongqing-Wanzhou-Yichang Highway (Wanzhou-Yichang section under construction)
 * Chongqing-Guiyang Highway
 * Chongqing-Changsha Expressway (Xiushan-Changsha section under construction)
 * Chongqing-Dazhou-Xi'a Highway (Dazhou-Xi'an section under construction)
 * Chongqing-Suining Expressway
 * Chongqing-Nanchong Expressway
 * China National Highway 210
 * China National Highway 212

Bridges

With so many bridges crossing the Yangtze and Jialing rivers in the urban area, Chongqing is sometimes known as the 'Bridge Capital of China'. The first important bridge in urban Chongqing was the Niujiaotuo Jialing River Bridge, built in 1958. The first bridge over the Yangtze river was the Shibanpo Yangtze River Bridge (or Chongqing Yangtze River Bridge) built in 1977.

, within the area of the 9 districts, there were 20 bridges on the Yangtze river and 28 bridges on the Jialing river. The bridges in Chongqing exhibit a variety of shapes and structures, making Chongqing a showcase for bridge design.

Airports
The major airport of Chongqing is Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (IATA: CKG, ICAO: ZUCK). It is located in Yubei District. The airport offers a growing network of direct flights to China, South East Asia, the Middle East, North America, and Europe. It is located 21 km north of the city center of Chongqing and serves as an important aviation hub for south-western China. Jiangbei airport is a hub for China Southern Airlines, Chongqing Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, China Express Airlines, Shandong Airlines and Hainan Airlines's new China West Air. Chongqing also is a focus city of Air China, therefore it is very well connected with Star Alliance and SkyTeam's international network. The airport currently has three parallel runways in operation. It serves domestic routes to most other Chinese cities, as well as international routes to Auckland, New York City, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Doha, Dubai, Seoul, Bangkok, Phuket, Osaka, Singapore, Chiang Mai, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Malé, Bali, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Batam, Rome and Helsinki. , Jiangbei Airport was the 4th busiest airport in terms of passenger traffic in mainland China.

Currently, Jiangbei airport has three terminals. Chongqing Airport has metro access (CRT Line 3 and Line 10) to its central city, and two runways in normal use.

There are four other airports in Chongqing Municipality: Qianjiang Wulingshan Airport, Wanzhou Wuqiao Airport, Chongqing Xiannüshan Airport, and Chongqing Wushan Airport. They are all class 4C airports and serve passenger flights to domestic destinations including Beijing, Shanghai and Kunming.

Language
The language native to Chongqing is Southwestern Mandarin. More precisely, the great majority of the municipality, save for Xiushan, speak Sichuanese, including the primary Chengdu-Chongqing dialect and Minjiang dialect spoken in Jiangjin and Qijiang. There are also a few speakers of Xiang and Hakka in the municipality, due to the great immigration wave to the Sichuan region (湖广填四川) during the Ming and Qing dynasties. In addition, in parts of southeastern Chongqing, the Miao and Tujia languages are also used by some Miao and Tujia people.

Tourism

As the provisional Capital of China for almost ten years (1937 to 1945), the city was also known as one of the three headquarters of the Allies during World War II, as well as being a strategic center of many other wars throughout China's history. Chongqing has many historic war-time buildings or sites, some of which have since been destroyed. These sites include the People's Liberation Monument, located in the center of Chongqing city. It used to be the highest building in the area, but is now surrounded and dwarfed by numerous shopping centers. Originally named the Monument for the Victory over Axis Armies, it is the only building in China for that purpose. Today, the monument serves as a symbol for the city. The General Joseph W. Stilwell Museum, dedicated to General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, a World War II general. the air force cemetery in the Nanshan area, in memory of those air force personnel killed during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), and the Red Rock Village Museum, a diplomatic site for the Communist Party in Chongqing led by Zhou Enlai during World War II, and Guiyuan, Cassia Garden, where Mao Zedong signed the "Double 10 (10 October) Peace Agreement" with the Kuomintang in 1945.
 * The Baiheliang Underwater Museum, China's first underwater museum,
 * The Memorial of Great Tunnel Massacre, a former air-raid shelter where a major massacre occurred during World War II.
 * The Great Hall of the People in Chongqing is based on the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. This is one of the largest public assembly buildings in China which, though built in modern times, emulates traditional architectural styles. It is adjacent to the densely populated and hilly central district, with narrow streets and pedestrian only walkways,
 * The large domed Three Gorges Museum presents the history, culture, and environment of the Three Gorges area and Chongqing.
 * Chongqing Art Museum is known for striking architecture.
 * Chongqing Science and Technology Museum has an IMAX theater.
 * Luohan Si, a Ming dynasty temple,
 * Huangguan Escalator, the second longest escalator in Asia.
 * Former sites for embassies of major countries during the 1940s. As the capital at that time, Chongqing had many residential and other buildings for these officials.
 * Wuxi County, noted as a major tourism area of Chongqing,
 * The Dazu Rock Carvings, in Dazu county, are a series of Chinese religious sculptures and carvings, dating back as far as the 7th century A.D., depicting and influenced by Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist beliefs. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Dazu Rock Carvings are made up of 75 protected sites containing some 50,000 statues, with over 100,000 Chinese characters forming inscriptions and epigraphs.,
 * The Three Natural Bridges and Furong Cave in Wulong Karst National Geology Park, Wulong County are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the South China Karst,
 * Ciqikou is a 1000-year-old town in the Shapingba District of Chongqing. It is also known as "Little Chongqing". The town, located next to the lower reaches of the Jialing River, was at one time an important source of china-ware and used to be a busy commercial dock during the Ming and Qing dynasties,
 * Fishing Town or Fishing City is one of the three great ancient battlefields of China. It is noted for its resistance to the Mongol armies during the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279) and the location where the Mongol leader Möngke Khan died in 1259,
 * Xueyu Cave in Fengdu County is the only example of a pure-white, jade-like karst cave in China,
 * Fengdu Ghost City in Fengdu County is the Gate of the Hell in traditional Chinese literature and culture.
 * Snowy Jade Cave, see Xueyu Cave (above).
 * Baidi Cheng, a peninsula in Yangtze River, known due to a famous poem by Li Bai.
 * The Chongqing Zoo, a zoo that exhibits many rare species including the giant panda, the extremely rare South China tiger, and the African elephant.
 * Chongqing Amusement Park.
 * Chongqing Grand Theater, a performing arts center.
 * Foreigners' Street was an amusement park, including the Porcelain Palace, the world's largest toilet. Also the location of the abortive Love Land development in 2009.
 * The Black Mountain Valley (Heishangu).
 * Hongya Cave (aka Hongya Dong), a pier stilt house fortress that served as one of the 17 city gates of Ancient Chongqing is a popular tourist attraction for its architecture.

Cuisine
Chongqing food is part of Sichuan cuisine. Chongqing is known for its spicy food. Its food is normally considered numbing because of the use of Sichuan pepper, also known as Sichuan peppercorn, containing hydroxy alpha sanshool. Chongqing's city center has many restaurants and food stalls where meals often cost less than RMB10. Local specialties here include dumplings and pickled vegetables and, different from many other Chinese cuisines, Chongqing dishes are suitable for the solo diner as they are often served in small individual sized portions. Among the delicacies and local specialties are these dishes:
 * Chongqing hot pot– Chongqing's local culinary specialty which was originally from Northern China. Tables in hot pot restaurants usually have a central pot, where food ordered by the customers is boiled in a spicy broth, items such as beef, pork, tripe, kidney slices, pork aorta and goose intestine are often consumed.
 * Chongqing Xiao Mian – a common lamian noodle dish tossed with chili oil and rich mixtures of spices and ingredients
 * Jiangtuan fish – since Chongqing is located along Jialing River, visitors have a good opportunity to sample varieties of aquatic products. Among them, is a fish local to the region, Jiangtuan fish: Hypophthalmichthys nobilis although more commonly known as bighead carp. The fish is often served steamed or baked. Wanzhou district is famous for baking Jiangtuan fish.

 * Suan La Fen (Sour and Spicy Sweet-Potato Noodles) – Thick, transparent noodles of rubbery texture in a spicy vinegar soup.
 * Lazi Ji (Spicy Chicken) – A stir-fried dish consists of marinated then deep-fried pieces of chicken, dried Sichuan chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, garlic, and ginger, originated near Geleshan in Chongqing.
 * Quanshui Ji (Spring Water Chicken) – Quanshui Ji is cooked with the natural spring water in the Southern Mountain of Chongqing.
 * Pork leg cooked with rock sugar – A common household dish of Chongqing, the tender, reddish finished dish, has been described as having strong and sweet aftertaste.
 * Qianzhang (skimmed soy bean cream) – Qianzhang is the cream skimmed from soybean milk. In order to create this, several steps must be followed very carefully. First, soybeans are soaked in water, ground, strained, boiled, restrained several times and spread over gauze until delicate, snow-white cream is formed. The paste can also be hardened, cut into slivers and seasoned with sesame oil, garlic and chili oil. Another variation is to bake the cream and fry it with bacon, which is described as soft and sweet.

Media
The Chongqing People's Broadcast Station is Chongqing's largest radio station. The only municipal-level TV network is Chongqing TV, claimed to be the 4th largest television station in China. Chongqing TV broadcasts many local-oriented channels, and can be viewed on many TV sets throughout China.

Basketball
Chongqing Soaring Dragons became the 20th team playing in Chinese Basketball Association in 2013. They play at Datianwan Arena, in the same sporting complex as Datianwan Stadium. The team moved to Beijing in 2015 and is currently known as Beijing Royal Fighters.

Soccer
Professional soccer teams in Chongqing include:
 * Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic, folded
 * Chongqing F.C., folded

Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic was a professional Chinese soccer club that played in the Chinese Super League. They were owned by the Chongqing-based Lifan Group, which manufactures motorcycles, cars and spare parts. Originally called Qianwei (Vanguard) Wuhan, the club formed in 1995 to take part in the recently developed, fully professional Chinese Soccer League. They would quickly rise to top tier of the system and experience their greatest achievement in winning the 2000 Chinese FA Cup, and coming in fourth within the league. However, since then they have struggled to replicate the same success, and have twice been relegated from the top tier.

Chongqing FC was a soccer club located in the city that competed in China League One, the country's second-tier soccer division, before being relegated to the China League Two, and dissolved due to a resultant lack of funds.

Sport venues
Sport venues in Chongqing include:
 * The Chongqing Olympic Sports Center is a multipurpose stadium. It is currently used mostly for soccer matches, as it has a grass surface, and can hold 58,680. It was built in 2002 and was one of main venues for the 2004 AFC Asian Cup.
 * Yanghe Stadium is a multiuse stadium that is currently used mostly for soccer matches. The stadium holds 32,000 people, and is the home of Chongqing Lifan in the Chinese Super League. The stadium was purchased by the Lifan Group in 2001 for RMB80 million and immediately replaced Datianwan Stadium as the home of Chongqing Lifan.
 * Datianwan Stadium is a multipurpose stadium that is currently used mostly for soccer matches. The stadium has a capacity 32,000 people, and up until 2001 was the home of Chongqing Lifan.

Cloud Valley
At the end of 2020, a collaboration between a Danish architecture firm and a Chinese tech company Terminus was announced, taking the form of an AI-controlled campus. The project is named Cloud Valley and aims to use sensors and WiFi-controlled devices to collect data on the city's residents and atmosphere, including weather and eating and sleeping habits. The AI will adapt devices to work in a way that fits the gathered information and improves residents' lives.

Notable people

 * Ba Manzi: a legendary hero of Ba kingdom in Zhou dynasty
 * Ba Qing, the Widow: the earliest known female merchant in Chinese history who provided huge financial aid to Qin Shi Huang to construct the Great Wall
 * Gan Ning: a general serving under warlord Sun Quan in the last years of Han dynasty
 * Yan Yan: a loyal general during Three Kingdoms period
 * Lanxi Daolong: a famous Buddhism monk and philosopher in Song dynasty who went to Japan and established the Kenchō-ji
 * Qin Liangyu: a popular heroine in Ming dynasty who fought against Manchus
 * Nie Rongzhen: marshal of the People's Liberation Army of China
 * Liu Bocheng: an early leader of Chinese communist party during Anti-Japanese War
 * Lu Zuofu: a notable industrialist and businessman who was a member of Chinese United League and a leader of Railway Protection Movement, established the Beibei District, Chongqing Natural History Museum, Jianshan High School, the Northern Hot Spring Park of Chongqing and Beibei Library, and served as the chief official of Food Bureau during the Republic of China period.
 * Liu Yongqing: wife of the former president and Party general secretary Hu Jintao
 * Zhonghua Pang: renowned calligrapher and geologist
 * Xia Peisu: computer scientist
 * Huang Qian: chess player
 * Tian Liang: Olympic diving gold medalist
 * Li Yundi: pianist
 * Karry Wang: member of the pop band TFBoys and actor
 * Roy Wang: singer-songwriter and member of TFBoys, also an actor and TV host
 * Li Hua: artist who studied in Europe
 * Xiao Zhan: actor, singer, and member of the boy group X Nine
 * Pan Wenhua: born in Renshou County, Sichuan Province, was a famous military general regarded as a born military prodigy
 * Zhou Zhennan: leader of C-pop group R1SE
 * Shi Tingmao: Olympic diving gold medalist
 * Chen Zihan : actress
 * Shuguang Zhang : biochemist
 * Xia Li: professional wrestler signed with WWE
 * Feng Timo : singer, pop star and internet personality
 * Domee Shi: Chinese Canadian animator, director and screenwriter

Twin towns – sister cities
Chongqing has sister city relationships with many cities of the world including:

 * 🇫🇷 Toulouse, France (1982)
 * 🇺🇸 Seattle, United States (1983)
 * 🇺🇸 Detroit, United States (1986)
 * 🇨🇦 Toronto, Canada (1986)
 * 🇯🇵 Hiroshima, Japan (1986)
 * Leicester, United Kingdom (1993)
 * 🇷🇺 Voronezh, Russia (1993)
 * 🇺🇦 Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine (2002)
 * Mpumalanga, South Africa (2002)
 * 🇧🇬 Sliven, Bulgaria (2002)
 * 🇩🇪 Düsseldorf, Germany (2004)
 * 🇦🇺 Brisbane, Australia (2005)
 * 🇮🇷 Shiraz, Iran (2005)
 * 🇪🇬 Aswan, Egypt (2005)
 * Busan, South Korea (2007)
 * 🇳🇴 Sør-Trøndelag, Norway (2007)
 * 🇹🇭 Chiang Mai Province, Thailand (2008)
 * 🇦🇷 Córdoba, Argentina (2010)
 * 🇭🇺 Budapest, Hungary (2010)
 * 🇹🇭 Bangkok, Thailand (2005)
 * 🇧🇪 Antwerp, Belgium (2011)
 * 🇧🇷 Salvador, Bahia, Brazil (2011)
 * 🇮🇳 Chennai, India (2015)
 * 🇸🇮 Maribor, Slovenia (2017)
 * 🇪🇸 Telde, Spain (2018)

title: Chongqing


text:
Wales & West

Wales & West was a train operating company in the United Kingdom that operated the South Wales & West franchise from 1996 until 2001.

The franchise was operated by Prism Rail from October 1996 until July 2000, when the firm was taken over by National Express. The company ceased to operate trains in October 2001, following a reorganisation of rail franchises.

Operations
Originally privatised under the name South Wales and West Railway, the company operated a network of local and middle-distance services in South Wales and the south west of England. These ranged from rural services in Cornwall and Pembrokeshire to urban commuter services in the Bristol area.

Longer-distance services operated under the Alphaline brand provided regular links to North Wales and the north west of England, as well as to the South Coast and London Waterloo.

Wales & West received considerable government subsidy. The first full financial year (1997/98) was supported by a payment of £70.9 million, with expenditure due to reduce to £38.1 million for its final trading year of 2003/04. The provisional claim from British Rail for the year 1996/97 had been £84.8 million, including an administered profit of £4.8 million.

Rolling stock
Wales & West inherited a fleet of Class 143, Class 150, Class 153 and Class 158s from British Rail. Wales & West also hired-in some locomotive-hauled trains on occasion.

Wales & West's fleet was maintained at Cardiff Canton and Exeter depots.

Enhancements
Wales & West carried out various enhancements to their 78-vehicle Class 158 fleet including new carpets, internal repainting and upgrades to air conditioning equipment. Seating was replaced throughout, with a revised layout offering a greater proportion of seats at tables and fewer airline-style seats.

One member of the Class 158 fleet was used to trial additional safety features. This included an airline-style lighting strip along the carriage aisle leading to the exits and illuminated arrows above internal doorways. In time, most of the company's trains also received an automated system of pre-recorded safety announcements.

Prism Rail also gave an undertaking to install passenger information displays at 205 stations. This ambitious project went on to cost Prism significantly more than expected, with no chance of recouping its investment – but the commitment was upheld and the project completed. Even the remote Sugar Loaf station that typically receives fewer than 100 passengers per year was equipped.

Other improvements committed to included:
 * Raising punctuality targets from 90% to 92%
 * Raising reliability targets from 99% to 99.5%
 * Station improvements including waiting shelters and personal security features
 * Re-staffing seven stations for an experimental period of 12 months

Corporate identity
By the end of the 1990s, the company had started to develop its own vehicle liveries to replace those inherited from Regional Railways. An experimental silver, blue and orange livery carried by 158867 evolved into a dedicated silver and navy livery for the flagship Alphaline fleet. The rest of the fleet began to receive an array of different promotional liveries featuring locations from the company's operating area.

The shortened Wales and West name was adopted to replace the original identity of South Wales & West Railway, with various updates to the company logo taking place.

Demise
In 2000 the Strategic Rail Authority announced its intention that a single all-Wales franchise should take over the majority of rail services in Wales. Accordingly, the Wales and West brand was withdrawn in October 2001 and services were redistributed between franchises and rebranded as follows:
 * The Valley Lines franchisee, Cardiff Railway Company Ltd, took on responsibility for most of Wales & West's services in Wales and changed its principal trading name to Wales and Borders Trains.
 * Other services primarily focused on south west England remained with Wales and West Passenger Trains Ltd. which changed its trading name to Wessex Trains.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Wales & West


text:
Wales and Borders

Wales and Borders was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated the Wales & Borders franchise from October 2001 until December 2003.

History
In October 1996, the Valley Lines franchise commenced operating services around Cardiff and the South Wales Valleys. In March 2000, the Strategic Rail Authority decided to re-organise the Valley Lines and Wales & West franchises, both being operated by National Express.

Valley Lines became Wales & Borders from October 2001, combining its services with most of Wales & West's Welsh services and the Cambrian Line services from Central Trains. In September 2003 Wales & Borders took over the North Wales Coast Line services from First North Western.

Services
Wales and Borders operated passenger services in Wales and the West Country as seen in their route map. It also operated services to Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham International, Penzance and London Waterloo.

On 14 October 2001, the services from Birmingham New Street to Chester, Aberystwyth, and Pwllheli operated by Central Trains were transferred.

On 28 September 2003, the services from Birmingham New Street, Crewe and Manchester Piccadilly to Llandudno and Holyhead as well as those between Bidston and Wrexham Central and Llandudno and Blaenau Ffestiniog operated by First North Western were also transferred.

Rolling stock
Wales and Borders inherited a fleet of Class 142, Class 143 and Class 150s from Valley Lines and Class 158s from Wales & West and Central Trains. From First North Western it inherited Class 153 and Class 175s.

Wales and Borders also used Mark 2 carriages on Rhymney Line and Fishguard Harbour services hauled by English Welsh & Scottish EWS Class 37s and Mark 2 carriages hauled by English Welsh & Scottish Class 47s on North Wales Coast Line services.

Depot
Wales and Borders' fleet was maintained at Cardiff Canton depot.

Demise
On 1 August 2003, the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the new franchise to Arriva with the services operated by Wales & Borders transferring to Arriva Trains Wales on 7 December 2003.

title: Wales and Borders


text:
Arriva Trains Northern

Arriva Trains Northern was a train operating company in England owned by Arriva that operated the Regional Railways North East franchise from March 1997 until December 2004. Arriva resumed operating Northern train services again on 1 April 2016 under the Northern brand but ceased again on 29 February 2020.

History
As part of the privatisation of British Rail, the Regional Railways North East franchise was awarded by the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising to MTL after it won the contest from a field of Connex, FirstBus, Grand Central, a management/Via-GTI consortium, National Express, Prism Rail and Stagecoach. The franchise commenced on 2 March 1997.

In May 1998, the franchise was rebranded as Northern Spirit with a livery of turquoise with a lime green stylised italic N across the midsection introduced.

At the same time, the long distance regional services connecting Sunderland, Newcastle, Scarborough and Hull with Manchester, Liverpool and Blackpool were sub-branded under the TransPennine Express banner with rolling stock painted in a base colour of maroon with a gold stylised italic N across the midsection. These services would later become a franchise in their own right from 2004, which is currently operated by TransPennine Express.

On 18 February 2000, MTL was purchased by Arriva,  and on 27 April 2001 the franchise was rebranded as Arriva Trains Northern. The Arriva corporate turquoise and stone livery was introduced on refurbished 153352 in July 2001.

Services
Arriva Trains Northern operated a mix of long distance regional, local urban and rural passenger services in the North of England and Yorkshire and the Humber extending across the Pennines.

The network extended from Carlisle and Chathill in the north to Sunderland, Scarborough, Hull and Cleethorpes on the east coast down to Sheffield and across to Manchester, Liverpool, Blackpool and Morecambe on the West Coast.

A daily Leeds to Glasgow Central via the Settle & Carlisle and West Coast Main Lines service was introduced in September 1999, the first time such a service had operated since 1982.

Problems
A long-running dispute with the RMT union lead to a prolonged period of industrial action. As a result, in 2001, the Strategic Rail Authority imposed a £2million fine. Throughout its life, the franchise suffered a shortage of drivers and rolling stock which led to many cancellations on a daily basis. An emergency timetable was later brought in which cancelled many services on a permanent basis rather than random as before.

Rolling stock
Arriva Trains Northern inherited a fleet of Class 142, Class 144, Class 150, Class 155, Class 156, Class 158, Class 308 and Class 321s from Regional Railways.

In September 1998, Northern Spirit traded seven of its Class 142s (142085-091) to Valley Lines in exchange for seven Class 150s (150268-274), although between October and December 2002 these were swapped for unrefurbished units 142072-77 and 142080-083, as 142086-091 had only recently been refurbished by Northern Spirit and Valley Lines wished to start their own refurbishment from scratch. In January 2001, the first of 16 Class 333s ordered to replace the Class 308s, entered service.

A shortage of available rolling stock to meet increasing demand led Arriva Trains Northern to lease Class 37s and ex Virgin CrossCountry Mark 2 carriages from English Welsh & Scottish to top and tail a daily service from Leeds to Carlisle for 12 months from September 2003. It also operated a peak hour Knaresborough to Leeds service.

Some of the rolling stock was owned by the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive and these were repainted red and silver with the Metro logos of the passenger transport executive.

Depots
Arriva Trains Northern's fleet was maintained at Heaton depot in Newcastle upon Tyne and Neville Hill depot in Leeds.

Demise
In 2000, the Strategic Rail Authority announced that it planned to create a new TransPennine Express franchise transferring Arriva Train Northern's long distance regional services with the remainder to be combined with those of the Regional Railways North West franchise to form a new Northern Rail franchise.

In July 2003, the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the TransPennine franchise to FirstGroup/Keolis with services operated by Arriva Trains Northern transferring to First TransPennine Express on 1 February 2004.

In July 2004, the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the Northern Rail franchise to Serco-Abellio with the remaining services operated by Arriva Trains Northern transferring to Northern Rail on 12 December 2004.

title: Arriva Trains Northern


text:
Southern (Govia Thameslink Railway)

Southern is the brand name used by the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) train operating company on the Southern routes of the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise in England. It is a subsidiary of Govia, a joint venture between transport groups Go-Ahead and Keolis, and has operated the South Central franchise since August 2001 and the Gatwick Express service since June 2008. When the passenger rail franchise was subsumed into GTR, Southern was split from Gatwick Express and the two became separate brands, alongside the Thameslink and Great Northern brands.

Southern operates the majority of commuter services from its Central London terminals at London Bridge and London Victoria to South London, East and West Sussex, as well as regional services in parts of Hampshire, Kent and Surrey. It also provides services between Watford Junction and Croydon via the West London line.

For three consecutive years from 2016 to 2018, Southern came last on passenger satisfaction in surveys conducted by the consumer group Which?, scoring low for value for money, reliability, and punctuality in 2018. In 2022, Southern was ranked second-worst on overall passenger satisfaction in a survey conducted by Transport Focus.

History
As part of the wider privatisation of the state owned railway operator British Rail in the 1990s, Connex South Central was awarded the Network SouthCentral franchise by the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising. Operations commenced on 26 May 1996.

In March 2000, the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority (SSRA) announced its intention to relet the franchise from May 2003; both Connex and Govia were shortlisted. In October 2000, the SSRA announced that Govia had been awarded the franchise and would operate it from May 2003. Govia negotiated a deal with Connex to buy out the remainder of its franchise, this was completed in August 2001. Govia trading as SouthCentral took over operations on 26 August 2001. The franchise was originally to run for twenty years but, in 2002, the Strategic Rail Authority changed the way it handled financing agreements and therefore Govia was re-awarded with a seven-and-a-half-year franchise until December 2009.

In May 2003, the franchise was rebranded as Southern in a recall of the pre-nationalisation Southern Railway, using a green roundel logo with Southern in yellow in a green bar.

During April 2007, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced that the Gatwick Express franchise was to be incorporated into the main South Central franchise. This reorganisation was part of a wider plan to increase capacity on the Brighton Main Line, involving the extension of peak-hour services from Gatwick to Brighton and Eastbourne from December 2008. This change doubled the number of London to Brighton express trains during those periods.

In December 2008, Southern took over the services on the Redhill to Tonbridge Line from Southeastern.

The South Central franchise end date was brought forward to September 2009 upon the integration of the Gatwick Express service, to allow the new operator to be in place during major changes to the timetable in and around South London in December 2009. In the run-up to the bidding process for the franchise, reports emerged suggesting that Transport for London, the operator of the London Overground service, wished to take control of all overground services in South London, including the 'Metro' area of the South Central franchise. However, such a transfer never took place and the DfT put out the entire franchise for tender.

In August 2008, the DfT shortlisted Govia, National Express, NedRail and Stagecoach for the new South Central franchise. In June 2009, the DfT announced that Govia had retained the franchise, to start on 20 September 2009.

In March 2012, the Department for Transport announced that Abellio, FirstGroup, Govia, MTR and Stagecoach had been shortlisted for the new Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise. The Invitation to Tender was to be issued in October 2012, with the successful bidder announced in spring 2013. However, in the wake of the collapse of the InterCity West Coast refranchising process, the government announced in October 2012 that the process would be put on hold pending the results of a review.

In December 2012, Southern's London Victoria to London Bridge via Denmark Hill service ceased, being partially replaced by London Overground's new Clapham Junction to Dalston Junction service.

At the conclusion of the Southern franchise in July 2015, the South Central franchise was merged into the Govia Thameslink Railway franchise, which is run as a management contract rather than a traditional franchise. However, the Southern brand was retained.

2007 and 2008 timetables
Southern was criticised for major changes to its timetables in December 2007 and December 2008.

In December 2007, Southern changed the arrangement for the splitting of services to and from London Victoria on the Arun Valley Line, opting to split trains at Horsham rather than Barnham, as well as run the portion to Portsmouth or Southampton non-stop to Barnham. Some passengers criticised this change as it increased the journey time to and from London by up to 10 minutes from certain stations, while in the event of services running behind schedule, trains were sometimes not split at Horsham, and proceeded non-stop to Barnham, leaving Arun Valley commuters at Horsham with the prospect of no onward trains.

During December 2008, further timetable changes included the introduction of the extended Gatwick Express services. However, reliability and timekeeping on some of the new services were considered poor, leading to several public meetings being held. On 22 January 2009, Southern responded to some of these criticisms. During 2009, these services have recorded improved timekeeping and criticisms have since subsided.

The new timetable also led to unhappiness due to the difference in speed and frequency of service between East Coastway services and those on the Brighton Main Line.

December 2010 timetable
Further changes to the timetable were made in December 2010; the first timetable change to include many of the requirements of the new franchise. Additional services were included at evenings and weekends. In the London area a 'metro' frequency of service was introduced on most routes with the extension of the weekday daytime four-trains-per-hour norm to late evenings (up to around midnight), Saturdays and Sundays. In addition, new late-night services were introduced from London on Friday and Saturday nights with last trains leaving central London at around 00:30.

Outside London, a new later-evening service was introduced to Uckfield from London Bridge, new late-night services from Brighton along the West Coastway line and direct services between Southampton and Brighton on Sundays.

Punctuality and overcrowding
In January 2015, Southern hit controversy when it was revealed that the 7.29am Brighton to London Victoria train failed to get in on time on any occasion out of all 240 attempts in 2014. Later in May 2015 it was revealed that Southern had fined passengers for standing in first class on an overcrowded train. Only 20% of Southern trains arrived on time in the year from April 2015 to March 2016, and there was an ongoing industrial dispute over driver-only operated trains. In late 2016, the Transport Select Committee told ministers to "get a grip" on railway franchises, with their report asking if the train operator was in breach of their contractual obligations due to the large number of cancelled trains, and went on to say, "in normal circumstances, this would be grounds for termination of the contract".

2016 amended timetable
In 2016, the company introduced an "amended timetable [that] would be a temporary measure until staffing returned to normal" to be announced on 5 July. The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) trade union said that 350 services would be cancelled every day (the company ran 2,242 weekday services in the previous timetable). The company said it had insufficient personnel, and too many were taking sick leave; the union denied that high levels of sickness were the cause of cancellations, while agreeing that there were an insufficient number of guards and drivers.

The government Department for Transport said that the situation was unacceptable. While the company was obliged to notify the department in advance, this did not amount to giving the company permission for the changes. The RMT union general secretary Mick Cash said the government had permitted GTR to introduce the emergency timetable, but that it was "nothing to do with staff sickness and everything to do with gross mismanagement of this franchise and the failure to employ enough guards and drivers. ... a cynical and cowardly ploy".

The London Evening Standard mentioned Southern in an article in June 2016 "Southern rail suggests commuter goes on 100 mile detour to Clapham instead of her normal six minute journey". In June 2016, amongst criticism of the performance of its services, Go-Ahead warned of lower than anticipated profits on its Govia Thameslink Railway franchises, leading to an 18% drop in the Go-Ahead share price.

From 31 October 2016, Southern restored the full weekday timetable.

Control of doors and strikes
In 2016, Southern altered its method of door operation, with control of the doors moving from the conductor to the driver. Southern said this would allow the conductor to concentrate on the passengers, but the RMT and Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) unions said that it was an attempt to make conductors unnecessary and would be unsafe. The rail safety regulator, the Rail Standards and Safety Board has said that "We have 30 years of data which we have analysed. We have found that the driver performing the task does not increase the risk to passengers at all." During 2016, the RMT and ASLEF unions went on strike over the changes, causing severe disruption to Southern services. The strikes continued into 2017.

The BBC suggested that the RMT union are particularly worried about the new method of operation because if drivers (rather than conductors) control the doors then trains could run without conductors and thus any strike by conductors would not have the power to cancel trains.

In December 2016, it was announced that the government would pay £50million to Southern to cover the costs of the disruption caused by the strikes, due to a deal between the government and Southern. This deal means that the government pays £38million for lost revenue and £15million in compensation to passengers. This deal also means that Govia Thameslink Railway will save around £1.1million in pay for striking workers. Commentators argued that the government gave a management contract rather than a normal franchise to GTR in order to push through DOO. The management contract meant that GTR did not have the incentive to resolve strikes as a normal franchisee would have, as the government lost money from strikes rather than GTR.

On 2 February 2017, the TUC announced that talks between Southern and ASLEF had reached an agreement meaning that the dispute with ASLEF had been resolved. However, the RMT union said it was 'betrayed' by Southern and that strikes by the RMT would continue. On 29 June 2017, ASLEF implemented an overtime ban with the aim of highlighting a claimed failure by Southern to recruit adequate staff.

Services
 The standard off-peak service as of June 2024 is:

Rolling stock
, Southern services are almost entirely operated by 214 Class 377 electric multiple units, with the exception of services on the unelectrified Marshlink line and the Uckfield branch of the Oxted line, which use Class 171 diesel multiple units.

South Central inherited a fleet of Class 205, Class 207, Class 319, Class 421, Class 423, Class 455 and Class 456 multiple-unit trains from Connex South Central. Southern inherited a Class 73 locomotive and Class 460 Juniper trains from Gatwick Express.

A franchise commitment was to replace all the Mark 1 slam-door stock, resulting in Southern ordering 28 three-car DC, 139 four-car DC and 15 four-car dual-voltage Class 377 Electrostars in September 2001 and March 2002 to replace the Class 421, Class 422 and Class 423s.

In August 2002, Southern ordered nine two-car and six four-car Class 171 Turbostars to replace the Class 205s and Class 207s on the routes that are not fully electrified. In 2006, a tenth two-car Class 171 was transferred from South West Trains.

In 2007, Southern ordered 12 four-car, dual-voltage Class 377/5 Electrostars to replace the remaining twelve Class 319s for transfer to First Capital Connect. In March 2008 Go Ahead purchased a further 11 Class 377/5s. All 23 ended up being sublet to First Capital Connect to provide extra stock for the Thameslink Programme Key Output Zero changes from March 2009. However, due to delays in their production, Class 377/2s were also sublet. To cover for this, Class 350/1s were subleased from London Midland.

To provide stock for the extended Gatwick Express services to Brighton, in 2008 Southern leased 17 Class 442 Wessex Electrics withdrawn by South West Trains in early 2007. After retaining the franchise in 2009, Southern leased the remaining seven Class 442s. The last of the Class 460 Junipers were withdrawn in September 2012.

To release Class 377/3s for use on London suburban services, Southern introduced a fleet of ex-London Overground Class 313s on the Coastway lines from May 2010. . These remained in service until 2023, when they were withdrawn from service and was replaced by Class 377s.

During 2011, Southern announced that, because of delays in procuring new trains for the Thameslink Programme, the 23 Class 377/5s on sub-lease to First Capital Connect would not be returned in time to deliver the operator's planned capacity increases from the December 2013 timetable change. It therefore began a process to procure 130 new vehicles. It was announced in December 2011 that Bombardier had been contracted to supply 26 five-car Class 377/6s. In November 2012, it was announced that an option for a further 40 vehicles was being exercised.

All twenty-four Class 456s were transferred to South West Trains in 2014 after the introduction of the Class 377/6 fleet.

In April 2016, Southern commenced a lease for nine three-carriage Class 170s last used by First ScotRail from Eversholt Rail Group. Four (170421–424) moved to Wolverton Works in 2015 and were reconfigured as two two-carriage and two four-carriage Class 171s. The other five (170416–420) remain in Scotland on sub-lease to Abellio ScotRail and were scheduled to move to Southern in 2018.

In May 2022, Southern withdrew its Class 455s and received 2 Class 377s from Southeastern.

On 7 September 2022, three Class 171s, having been reformed to three-car formations and renumbered to 170422–424, transferred to East Midlands Railway.

Past fleet
Former units operated by Southern include:

Depots
Southern's fleet is maintained at Brighton Lovers Walk and Selhurst depots. The Gatwick Express fleet is maintained at Stewarts Lane.

Light maintenance is also carried out at Littlehampton for the electric fleet, and St Leonards for the class 171 fleet when on Marshlink services.

Future
Southern, as part of its successful bid for the South Central franchise in 2009, made several commitments to improving services across the network. These included:
 * Increasing the length of suburban services in South London to 10 cars between 2011 and 2013
 * Increasing the service level on all routes in South London to 4 trains per hour (tph) until 23:00 each day, and the introduction of late-night services on Fridays and Saturdays
 * The introduction of an hourly service on Sundays between Brighton and Southampton Central, and an increase in the number of late-night services between Brighton and Worthing
 * The introduction of late-night services on the London to Uckfield route
 * Installation of new ticket gates at 22 stations across the network
 * Increasing the number of car-parking spaces at stations by 1,000 and the number of cycle spaces by 1,500
 * Cleaning and refreshing of all stations and trains on the network
 * Major refurbishments to seven stations: Brighton, Haywards Heath, Hove, Lewes, Redhill, Three Bridges and Worthing

Uckfield–Lewes line
The franchise consultation paper released at the beginning of the 2009 franchising process stated that the ultimate franchise agreement would include a change mechanism to enable the DfT to incorporate additional routes into the South Central franchise, and it invited bidders to submit priced options for schemes put forward by stakeholders. One such scheme could, as indicated in the South Central Franchise Consultation Paper, be the reopening of the Uckfield – Lewes line, closed in 1969. During the 2010s, several interested parties have been examining the possibility of reopening the line.

Future of the franchise
In January 2016, Transport for London announced a proposal to take over the London suburban parts of the franchise in 2021 through a partnership with the Department for Transport to form a new suburban metro service. However, the plan was rejected by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling in December 2016.

In January 2017, it was reported that the Department for Transport was considering temporarily renationalising the franchise if the service did not improve.

On 17 June 2021, the DfT extended the current contract from 19 September 2021 to 31 March 2022.

The contract for the delivery of Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern services was extended by the DfT on 25 March 2022. The current contract will now expire on 1 April 2028.

Rolling out of smartcards
Southern was criticised in January 2007 for not wishing to introduce Oyster Pay As You Go on its London routes, stating that it was not financially viable. In 2007, Southern introduced Oyster on its Watford Junction to Clapham Junction route, and the company later agreed in principle to the introduction of Oyster across its network, but did not give any firm timescale, managing director Chris Burchell saying "'There are still a number of outstanding issues that need to be discussed with TfL, but we do not believe these will prevent us making PAYG a reality on our network. We look forward to discussions with TfL on how we can make this happen as soon as possible for our passengers.'" In its successful franchise bid in 2009, Southern said it was committed to rolling out Oyster Pay As You Go in the London area, but also that such a move was subject to industry agreement. Since 2 January 2010, Oyster Pay As You Go has been valid on all its London routes, along with most other train services in the London area. In addition, Oyster is valid on Southern services beyond the Greater London boundary as far as Epsom, Epsom Downs, Tattenham Corner, Upper Warlingham, Caterham and Gatwick Airport.

The Key
In 2012, Southern became the first rail company in England to use the ITSO card on its network. The Key is a smartcard similar to Transport for London's Oyster card. Tickets of various types can be purchased for the smartcard at ticket vending machines across the majority of the GTR network, except within Oyster-capable travel areas, as well as online (season tickets only).

Three forms of Key exist: child, adult, and staff. All child smartcards need a photograph, which is printed onto the card, as well as proof of age while registering. The Key can be de-activated and the tickets transferred to a new card sent out in the post if the smartcard is reported as lost, stolen or faulty. Staff smartcards are only issued to employees of GTR, and offer unlimited travel across all of GTR's network.

The Key also has a pay-as-you-go feature called keyGo. With this, customers can tap in and out freely within the keyGo area, and the cheapest combination of tickets from the entire day's taps are automatically calculated at the end of the railway day and automatically charged to a linked payment card. keyGo is also valid on Brighton & Hove buses and Metrobus services within certain areas. Bus journeys are charged at the single, day zonal, day network or Plusbus rates as appropriate.

The Key can be used on all National Rail services where tickets are available for purchase on smartcards.

title: Southern (Govia Thameslink Railway)


text:
Connexxion

Connexxion is a large public transport company in the Netherlands, operating in the west, middle, east, and southwest parts of the country. It is owned by Transdev and Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten. It is a subsidiary of Transdev Netherlands.

History
Connexxion was formed on 10 May 1999 from a merger between transport companies NZH, ZWN, Midnet and Oostnet. Its name is a mutation of the French word connexion meaning connection. In January 2007, Connexxion took over Utrecht public transport operator GVU and Nijmegen operator Novio. In 2007, Connexxion's 33% shareholding in Syntus was sold.

On 12 October 2007, Connexxion was privatised with a 67% stake purchased by Transdev-BNG-Connexxion Holding BV (TBCH), a consortium consisting of Transdev (75%) and Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten (BNG) (25%), beating a Deutsche Bahn / Rabobank consortium and FirstGroup. This gives Transdev 50%, BNG 17%, and the government a 33% stake in Connexxion. In February 2013, the government's 33% shareholding was purchased by Transdev, increasing its shareholding to 86%.

Connexxion's parent company, Transdev Netherlands, also had another operation called Veolia Transport Nederland. The branding was replaced with the Connexxion in December 2016. As a result, Veolia Transport Nederland's Haaglanden operations were rebranded to Connexxion.

Operating area
Connexxion operate in Amstelland, Amsterdam-Zuidoost, Arnhem, Gooi, Haarlem, Hoeksche Waard, IJsselmonde, North Holland, Vechtstreek, Zaanstreek and Zeeland.

Buses
As of January 2016, Connexxion operated 1,900 buses and coaches. It operates the only trolleybus network in the Netherlands and, in 2017, introduced double-deckers on one route. Connexxion also owns bus companies Hermes and Novio.

In December 2013, Connexxion commenced operating the IJsselmonde, Rotterdam concession for 10 years. In December 2017, Connexxion will begin operating the Amstelland-Meerlanden concession for 10 years. An order has been placed with VDL for 100 Citeas SLFA electric buses. This will make it the largest operator of electric buses in Europe.

Rail
Connexxion is contracted to operate the Arnhem to Doetinchem concession until December 2020 and the Vallei line concession until December 2021.

Connexxion held the Almelo to Mariënberg concession from December 2006 until December 2013 however its operation was sub-contracted to Syntus. It operated the Sneltram between Utrecht and Nieuwegein until December 2013.

The fleet comprises five 2-car Protos electric multiple units, nine 3-car Stadler GTWs diesel multiple units, and two 3-car Stadler Flirts.

Ferries
Connexxion operated a ferry route from Velsen to IJmuiden and Amsterdam Centraal station with Voskhod hydrofoils until 31 December 2013.

Taxis
As at March 2015 Connexxion operated 3,500 taxis.

title: Connexxion


text:
Talk:Network Rail

Where did the train fleet section go?
There was a fleet section that had a table with trains NwR own and their statistics (speed, amount, etc) and now it's gone. Was it deleted? Paul McParkway (talk) 12:43, 9 August 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Network Rail


text:
Thames Trains

Thames Trains was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Go-Ahead Group, which operated the Thames Trains franchise from October 1996 until March 2004.

History
The Thames Trains franchise was awarded by the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising to Victory Rail Holdings, a company owned by Go-Ahead (65%) and some ex-British Rail managers (35%), with operations commencing on 13 October 1996. Go-Ahead bought the remaining shares it did not own in June 1998.

The Ladbroke Grove rail crash of 5 October 1999 involved a Thames Trains Class 165, which had failed to stop at a red signal. Thames Trains was fined £2 million for violations of health and safety law in connection with the incident, and was also ordered to pay £75,000 in costs.

Services
Thames Trains ran services along the Great Western Main Line from London Paddington to Didcot with services continuing north to Oxford, Bicester Town, Hereford and Stratford-upon-Avon. It also operated services on the Greenford, Windsor & Eton Central, Marlow, Henley and Bedwyn lines and on the Reading to Basingstoke and North Downs lines.

In 1998 a service from Oxford to Bristol was introduced in partnership with First Great Western. This was withdrawn in 2003 to relieve congestion, at the request of the Strategic Rail Authority.

Rolling stock

Thames Trains inherited a fleet of near-new Class 165 and Class 166 diesel multiple units from British Rail. Because the paintwork was still under warranty, the existing Network SouthEast livery was retained with only a Thames Trains logo added. Upon the warranty expiring, a new livery of white, blue and green was introduced in 2000.

Depot
Thames Trains' fleet was maintained at Reading TMD.

Demise
In April 2003 the Strategic Rail Authority invited FirstGroup and Go-Ahead to bid for a two-year franchise that would coincide with the end date of the First Great Western franchise, after which both would become part of the Greater Western franchise. In November 2003 the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the new franchise to First with the services operated by Thames Trains transferring to First Great Western Link on 1 April 2004.

title: Thames Trains