New high-speed rail in NW China completes national network

LANZHOU -- A new high speed railway linking Baoji city in Northwest China's Shaanxi province with Lanzhou, capital of neighboring Gansu Province, started operation Sunday.

Thanks to the new route, Northwest China's Gansu and Qinghai provinces as well as Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region have been connected to the national high-speed rail network.

The Baoji-Lanzhou high-speed rail is 401 kilometers long with an operation speed of 250 km per hour. Construction began in 2012. The rail line slashes the travel time between Xi'an and Lanzhou to three hours from the previous six hours, according local rail authorities.

The 1,776-km Lanzhou-Xinjiang high-speed rail was operational at the end of 2014, but was unable to reach central and eastern China as the Baoji-Lanzhou line was still under construction.

The new rail line will boost outbound passenger flow from the northwest and improve transport capacity on the Eurasian rail corridor.