New high-speed rail opens along ancient silk road

As part of the national network, the new route also makes it easier to visit the ancient silk road, home to countless natural scenery and historical sites such as snow-capped mountains, forests, deserts and the Maiji Mountain Grottoes.

Train travel into the northwest region is no longer tedious, and it is now only a nine-hour trip from Shanghai in the east to Lanzhou city, down from the previous 23 hours.

China had built more than 22,000 km of high-speed rail lines by the end of last year. The mileage will increase to 45,000 km by 2030.

Ma Tao, an official with the local railway bureau of Lanzhou, said he expected fresh tourism opportunities for the regions along the new rail route.

To promote regional tourism, photos and brochures are now distributed on trains between Lanzhou and the eastern Xuzhou city, while visitors can enjoy discounts on local tours and accommodation with high-speed railway tickets.

Meanwhile, as more tourists are attracted to high-speed rail, freight transport on slower railways such as the Lianyungang-Lanzhou Railway will receive a boost.

Cutting one pair of passenger trains on the Lianyungang-Lanzhou Railway will help add two to three freight trains on the same line, each with a capacity of 1 million tonnes, according to Xu Jiangen, deputy chief engineer with Xi'an railway bureau.

For the less developed northwest region, enhanced transport means increased investment, more jobs and development opportunities.

In Tongwei, one of the most impoverished counties in Gansu, the Baoji-Lanzhou high-speed rail has for the first time connected the area with many of China's major cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Wuhan.

Each year, locals from Tongwei make more than 100,000 trips to leave home to find jobs as migrant workers, and now the trip will be much more easier, said Wang Xiangxiong, a local poverty relief official.