High-speed railway in NW China to increase speed

A section of a high-speed railway in Northwestern China will increase operation speed starting from Saturday, reducing travel time between two major cities in the area to one hour, according to the national railway operator China State Railway Group.

The railway section between Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province, and Xining, capital of Qinghai province, will operate at a speed of 250 kilometers per hour, slashing the travel time to 59 minutes. The section is part of a high-speed railway linking Lanzhou and Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

At the same time, the railway section between Lanzhou and Zhangye of Gansu will resume operation on Saturday.

The Lanzhou-Urumqi High-Speed Railway, opened in 2014 with the designed speed of 250 km per hour, usually operates at the speed of 200 km per hour.

In recent years, affected by geological disasters such as frequent earthquakes and mudslides, the sections linking Lanzhou and Xining, as well as the section connecting Xining with Zhangye, have been suspended for some time.

Since last year, the railway department has carried out an quality improvement project on the sections.