Travel time from Beijing to Urumqi is about to be cut in half. China’s first high-altitude, high-speed railway tracks – stretching from Lanzhou to Xinjiang – were completed yesterday. It will open to traffic by the end of the year, at which time travel from Beijing to Urumqi will be shortened from the 40 to under 20 hours.

Known as the "Iron Silk Road", the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway PDL runs 1,776 km through Northwest China's Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang provinces. It is designed for a maximum operating speed of 250km/hr. The final phases of its construction, debugging and commissioning, will be launched this month.

The last long rail of the Qilian Mountains Tunnel No. 1, laid in place yesterday, marked the completion of the line’s track-laying work.

"As the construction of Qilian Mountains tunnel is very difficult, it became the last track-laying section of the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway PDL. Now, the Gansu-Qinghai segment of the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway PDL will be put into debugging and commissioning to prepare for a complete opening to traffic by the end of the year," said Ren Shaoqiang, deputy general manager of China Railway's 20th Bureau Group.

Xu Zhijie, deputy general manager of Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway Gansu-Qinghai Co, Ltd. said this high-speed railway runs through the Loess Plateau, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Pamirs before arriving in Urumqi.

"The Lanzhou-Xinjiang railway will be primarily for new passenger transport," said Xu. “The existing rail line will now only be used for freight transportation."

"We experienced difficulties while constructing the tunnels," he added. “For this reason, we invited experts and engineers with experience from the Qinghai-Tibet railway's Fenghuo Mountain tunnel."

With a total investment of 143.5 billion yuan($23.3 billion), the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway PDL is a key project for China's western development strategy as well as an important transport corridor for the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt.

Zhang Baozhu, chairman of Xi'an Electrochemical Company, said the new railway will greatly enhance the transportation along the Eurasian Continental Bridge, as well as promote the economic development of Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang provinces.

A high-speed railway from Lanzhou to Xi'an is currently under construction. At its completion, the high-speed rails from Xining will connect to Eastern China.

The Lanzhou-Xinjiang High-Speed Rail has a total of 31 stations. They include: West Lanzhou, Minhe, Ledu, Ping'an, Xining, Datongxi, Menyuan, Junmachang, Minle, West Zhangye, South Linze, South Gaotai, North Qingshui, South Jiuquan, South Jiayuguan, South Qingquan, Yumen Town, South Liugou, South Shibandun, South Liuyuan, South Hongliuhe, East Yandun, Hami, South Liushuquan, South Hongceng, Tuha, North Shanshan, North Turpan, Daheyan, West Yanhu and Urumqi. And a total of six stations are set within Qinghai province.

The Gansu-Qinghai segment of Lanzhou-Xinjiang High-speed Rail was constructed by the China Railway First and 20th Bureaus.(source: china daily)