This double-track electrified line has a total length of 2,324 kilometres (1,444 miles) and spans five provinces through north, central and south China.

The line passes through the capitals of each of them: Shijiazhuang (Hebei), Zhengzhou (Henan), Wuhan (Hubei), Changsha (Hunan) and Guangzhou (Guangdong).

A strong desire to bring the route under Chinese control led to the formation of the Bank of Communications to secure the financing needed to repatriate the railway.

The successful redemption of the railway in 1909 enhanced the prestige of the Communications Clique, which became a powerful political force in the early Republic.

[1] The concession was originally awarded to the American China Development Company, but a diplomatic crisis erupted when the Belgians purchased a controlling interest in it.

The strike, organized by Shi Yang and Lin Xiangqian, was an early example of worker mobilization by the Chinese Communist Party.