[3] Construction began on April 18, 2008,[4] with the line opened to the public for commercial service on June 30, 2011.

[6][7][8] The line is one of the busiest high speed railways in the world, transporting over 210 million passengers in 2019,[9] more than the annual ridership of the entire TGV or Intercity Express network.

Beijing and Shanghai were not linked by rail until 1912, when the Jinpu railway was completed between Tianjin and Pukou.

Passengers had to get off in Pukou with their luggage, board a ferry named "Kuaijie" across the Yangtze, and get on another connecting train in Xiaguan on the other side of the river.

In 1949, from Shanghai's North railway station toward Beijing (then Beiping) it took 36 hours, 50 minutes, at an average speed of 40 km/h (24.9 mph).

The fastest sleeper trains took 9 hours, 49 minutes, with four intermediate stops, at an average speed of 149 km/h (93 mph).

Due to rapid growth in passenger and freight traffic in the last 20 years, this line has reached and surpassed capacity.

[23] In 1995, Premier Li Peng announced that work on the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway would begin in the 9th Five Year Plan (1996–2000).

The Ministry's initial design for the high-speed rail line was completed, and a report was submitted for state approval in June 1998.

[24] The construction plan was set in 2004, after a five-year debate on whether to use steel-on-steel rail track, or maglev technology.

[25][26] Although engineers originally said construction could take until 2015, the China's Ministry of Railways initially promised a 2010 opening date for the new line.

This section of the line sits on the soft soil of the Yangtze Delta, providing engineers an example of the more difficult challenges they would face in later construction.

In addition to these challenges, high speed trains use extensive amounts of aluminium alloy, with specially designed windscreen glass capable of withstanding avian impacts.

[28] On December 3, 2010, a 16-car CRH380AL trainset set a speed record of 486.1 km/h (302.0 mph) on the Zaozhuang West to Bengbu section of the line during a test run.

According to the Ministry of Railways, construction has used twice as much concrete as the Three Gorges dam, and 120 times the amount of steel in the Beijing National Stadium.

There are 244 bridges and 22 tunnels built to standardized designs, and the route is monitored by 321 seismic, 167 windspeed and 50 rainfall sensors.

[35] On July 10, 2011, trains were delayed after heavy winds and a thunderstorm caused power supply problems in Shandong.

[36] Within two weeks after opening, airline prices had rebounded due to frequent malfunctions on the line.

[38] On August 12, 2011, after several delays caused by equipment problems, 54 CRH380BL trains running on this line were recalled by their manufacturer.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Railways apologized for the glitches and delays, stating that in the two weeks since service had begun only 85.6% of trains had arrived on time.

By then, the state-owned company Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway, established to raise funds for the project, had raised ¥110 billion, with the remaining to be sourced from local governments, share offerings, bank loans and, for the first time for a railway project, foreign investment.

This line is gradually gaining popularity through the years and it is reaching its capacity at weekends and holidays.

With the introduction of the China Standardized EMU, the highest operation speed of the line is raised to 350 km/h (217 mph) on September 21, 2017.

The fares from Beijing South to Shanghai Hongqiao in RMB Yuan are listed below:[59] Note: *Only available on services using the CRH380AL, CRH380BL and CRH380CL trains Passengers can buy tickets online.

More than 40 pairs of daily scheduled train services travel end-to-end along this route, and hundreds more that only use a segment of it.