It’s full speed ahead as railway links Shanghai with Kunming
Print Edition
ONE of the world’s longest high-speed rail lines opened yesterday, linking China’s prosperous east coast with the less-developed southwest.
The Shanghai-Kunming line — 2,252 kilometers long — traverses the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan, and cuts the travel time from Shanghai to Yunnan’s capital from 34 to 11 hours, according to China Railway Corporation.
The train travels at a maximum speed of 330kph, said driver Wang Jingda.
A girl at Kunming railway station told reporters she would now be able to see her husband every day after a short 40-minute ride. The two live in different cities 235 kilometers apart.
The line is the longest east-to-west high-speed railway in China. At 2,298 kilometers, the north-to-south Beijing-Guangzhou line, which opened in 2012, is longer.
China has built more than 20,000 kilometers of high-speed rail lines and that is due to increase to 45,000 by 2030. The launch of the Shanghai-Kunming line means the country’s high-speed rail grid has taken shape, connecting almost all provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland.
Yesterday also marked the launch of another high-speed rail line, linking Kunming with Nanning, the capital of southwest China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Yunnan is home to 25 indigenous ethnic minorities and attendants on the Shanghai-Kunming line are trained to be multilingual. One of the attendants, Yang Yanzhu, for example, speaks eight local languages.
The line has been described by some as the most beautiful high-speed railway route in the country as many of the stops are tourist sites. Yunnan, especially, is a big draw for Chinese tourists as the region boasts snow-capped mountains, canyons, tropical forests and ethnic villages.
The annual growth of the city’s tourist arrivals is set to double with the opening of the high-speed line, the Kunming Tourism Development Commission said.
“Yunnan tourism will get a boost. People can reach their destinations faster and spend more time relaxing,” said Ming Qingzhong of the Yunnan University of Finance and Economics.
But it is not all about the scenery.
The line also connects Yunnan with one of China’s most vibrant economic powerhouses — the Shanghai-centered Yangtze River Delta economic zone.
The size of the Yunnan economy was about half that of Shanghai last year. Local governments and business people expect the new connection will help the land-locked provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou to develop.
With the new train, travel time between their two provincial capitals is reduced from seven hours to two.
Yunnan’s border trade with Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam is also expected to get a boost.
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