BEIJING: A new railway line in China’s southwestern region will open on Monday, slashing travel time between the region’s two major cities Chengdu and Kunming, capitals of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, the national railway operator China State Railway Group said on Saturday.
The 915-kilometer line linking Chengdu and Kunming will cut travel time between the two cities to 7.5 hours, while travel time between Chengdu and two other major cities along the way — Xichang and Panzhihua — will be slashed to 3 and 5 hours.
The line starts in Chengdu, passes through Meishan, Leshan, Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture and Panzhihua in Sichuan, then enters Yunnan’s Chuxiong Yi autonomous prefecture and ends at Kunming. It is electrified with a designed speed of 160 km per hour.
The geography along the route is complex, and the line crosses rivers and mountains including the Minjiang, Dadu and Jinsha rivers and Mount Emei, which posed difficulties for construction.
Engineers carried out intelligent surveying and made use of many tunnels and long-span bridges to overcome topographical challenges, some of which were extreme.
In all, seven tunnels of more than 10 kilometers, including the 22-kilometer Xiaoxiangling Tunnel, and 11 bridges of more than 2 kilometers, have been built along the line, which is a key project for the large-scale development of China’s western region, and is an important link in the railway corridor from China to Southeast Asia.
The opening of the line has improved the railway network in the southwest, boosting railway transportation capacity. It will also greatly facilitate the movement of people and goods, boosting socioeconomic development in the region, facilitating rural vitalization and promoting opening up, the company said.
The new line is the second route linking Chengdu and Kunming. The old Chengdu-Kunming Railway, which extends for 1,096 kilometers, opened in 1970, with a designed speed of 80 km/h.
Due to the complex topography, it was once believed that some areas would be impenetrable to railways and the completion of the old railway was considered by railway experts as one of the “miracles “symbolizing the conquest of nature in the 20th century.
The line was an important strategic corridor and provided strong transportation support for economic and social development. However, with the increasing demand, the old line’s capacity is no longer sufficient and so the decision was taken to build a second line linking Chengdu and Kunming.
The new line runs largely in parallel with the old one, but is taking more direct routes via long tunnels and bridges whereas the old line had to resort to extended lines to lower steepness. Sections of the new line have been completed over the past few years. The section between Emei and Mianning in Sichuan province eventually fills the last gap.
Initially, the railway department will run eight passenger train services between Chengdu and Xichang, as well as between Chengdu and Panzhihua every day, while 10 passenger train services will be run between Chengdu and Kunming.
–The Daily Mail-CGTN news exchange item
