Lanzhou (CNS) ? China’s first high-speed railway running through the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has made a successful test run between Gansu and Qinghai provinces.
The high-speed train made a round trip between Minhe county of Qinghai province and Lanzhou of Gansu province on Monday evening. It was the first time for the train to be tested in Lanzhou, the east end of the rail line.
The 1,776-km Lanzhou-Urumqi high-speed railway, linking Gansu province, Qinghai province, and the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region, is expected to open by the year end.
Trains on the line are designed to run 250 kilometers per hour, making the journey from Gansu’s capital Lanzhou to Qinghai’s Xinning in 1.5 hours, and to Xinjiang’s Urumqi in 9 hours, half the time of ordinary trains.
The high-speed rail will detach passenger transport from the existing Lanzhou-Xinjiang railway, allowing it to become a dedicated rail freight line.
