Blazing a rail through China's scenic northwest

Last month, a railway linking Dunhuang, Gansu province, and Golmud, Qinghai province, officially went into full operation. Along the 671-kilometer route, trains can give you a front-row seat to view the moving sands of the Kumtag Desert and the snowcapped Qilian Mountains, among other stunning landscapes. There are 25 stations along the line.

The railway crosses Qilian Mountains through a tunnel stretching more than 20 kilometers.

The railway intersects with existing lines, including the Lanzhou-Qinghai Railway, Qinghai-Tibet Railway and Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway, to form the first circular railway network in the northwestern region.

The network will shorten the travel distance between the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and the Tibet autonomous region by 1,100 km and cut the journey time by almost 10 hours.

The railway from Dunhuang was extended south into Qinghai, connecting Dunhuang to Subei, Mahai and Yinmaxia near Golmud on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

Construction of the Dunhuang Railway started in December 2012, with a total investment of 13.48 billion yuan ($1.94 billion).

The single-track electrified line is designed for speeds up to 120 km per hour and freight trains of up to 4,000 metric tons, with provision for future double tracking.

China State Railway Group said the line will be of great importance for the rail network in western China and will also play a role in the Belt and Road Initiative global development drive.