The Beijing–Zhangjiakou Railway or Jingzhang Railway (simplified Chinese: 京张铁路; pinyin: Jīngzhāng Tiělù), also known as the Imperial Peking–Kalgan Railway, is China’s first railway that has been designed and built solely by Chinese, situated in the nation’s capital Beijing and Zhangjiakou City in Hebei Province. It was built in 1905–1909 under the proposal of Viceroy of Zhili Yuan Shikai (袁世凯) and Assistant Director-General of Railways Hu Yufen (胡燏棻), with Zhan Tianyou (詹天佑) or Jeme Tien Yow as engineer-in-chief. When building the railway, Zhan reduced the length of Badaling Tunnel by using a switchback—or “人”-shaped rail track called in China as the shape of it resembles the Chinese character “人” (pinyin: rén; literally: people); he also used vertical shafts to facilitate the excavation o