Published on: 2026-07-09
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –
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On June 30, 2026, the Xi’an-Shiyan high-speed railway officially opened. This line, designed for train speeds up to 350 km/h, crosses the Qinling Mountains and eliminates a key gap in the national high-speed rail network of “eight vertical and eight horizontal routes.”
For thousands of years, the Qinling Mountains have been an insurmountable barrier. Since the founding of the PRC, builders have successively constructed the Baoji-Chengdu railway, the Xi’an-Ankang line, the Xi’an-Chengdu high-speed line, and now the Xi’an-Shiyan line. Train speeds have increased from several tens of kilometers per hour to 350 km/h, vividly demonstrating China’s rapid economic rise.
The technological breakthrough demonstrates China’s capabilities.
The geology of the Qinling area is highly complex, and this region was once considered a “forbidden zone for railway construction.” From the earliest stages, when tunnels were excavated manually, to today, when China has mastered advanced technologies for building high-speed railways in challenging mountainous conditions, the overall technical level of the country’s railway construction has reached world leadership. Generations of builders have turned many “impossible” projects into reality.
Improving people’s lives and stimulating regional development.
After the opening of the Xi’an-Shiyan line, the travel time from Wuhan to Xi’an has been reduced to 2 hours and 41 minutes, and all counties and districts along the route have entered a 1-2 hour suburban transportation zone of major cities. The railway allows local products from mountainous areas to reach markets throughout the country, promotes industrial modernization, job creation, and income growth in mountainous regions, and also accelerates the inflow of talent, technology, and quality public services into these regions, significantly strengthening balanced regional development and overall prosperity.
Connect economic zones and stimulate overall dynamics.
The Xi’an-Shiyan line has for the first time provided direct high-speed connection between two major economic regions – Northwest and Central China, accelerating the movement of people, goods, and information flows. As the high-speed network continues to expand, the interior regions are increasingly integrating into the overall process of the country’s development.
The continuous development of the high-speed rail network will enable internal and remote areas to synchronize with the pace of development of the eastern regions and actively integrate into the nationwide process. The regionally balanced development of China and the achievement of common prosperity will reach a new level.
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