China to open traffic for high speed train

A high speed railway section stretching from Hunan’s border county Xinhuang in central China to Guizhou’s capital city Guiyang in southwest China will open to traffic on Thursday.

The section runs six stations in 286 kilometres. It is part of the high-speed railway connecting Shanghai and southwest China’s Kunming City.

With a speed of 300 kilometres per hour, its opening will shorten the journey between Guiyang and Changsha, capital of Hunan, from 12 to three hours.

It will take only nine hours to travel from Guiyang to Beijing or Shanghai, as compared to the 30 hours by regular trains.

The high speed railway is widely expected to promote economic exchange between the eastern, central and western China, and bring business opportunities to Guizhou, an economically disadvantaged province with rich resources for tourism and ethnic culture.

According to the railway construction authorities of Guizhou, construction on the section began in 2010. It was challenged by rugged terrain and complicated geology, as it was built at an altitude from 300 to 1,400 meters, with 89.7 percent of its length running through tunnels and across bridges.

The high-speed line connecting Shanghai and Hangzhou in east China’s Zhejiang Province was opened in 2010. That between Hangzhou and Changsha and the extension from Changsha to Xinhuang both in December 2014.

The section between Guiyang to Kunming is scheduled to finish next year, according to authorities.