First railway opens in plateau region in northwest Sichuan

A 238 km section of the Sichuan-Qinghai railway in western China became operational on Tuesday. The Sichuan-Qinghai railway has a total length of about 836 kilometers, with a designed speed of 200 kilometers per hour. 　

The first high-speed passenger train was launched at around 11 a.m. from Maoxian County, Aba Zang and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province, heading for Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan. 　

The railway crosses the rugged, earthquake-prone plateau region in northwest Sichuan. The Sichuan-Qinghai railway, upon completion of the whole project, will be a new rail line connecting the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, the highest plateau in the world, with the massive high-speed rail network of China.