The latest section of the national high speed network links the existing high speed line from eastern China to Xi’an and Baoji which opened in December 2013 with the 1 776 km route from Lanzhou to Urumqi which followed a year later.
Construction of the 401 km Baoji – Lanzhou route with eight stations began in 2012. Trains run at speeds up to 250 km/h, reducing the journey time between the cities from around 5½ h to 2 h while also freeing capacity to enable more freight to be carried on the conventional line to the western border and Europe.