Travel time from Guangzhou to Chongqing cut to 7 hours

With the opening of the Chongqing-Guiyang High-speed Railway on Jan 25, the journey from Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, to the metropolis of Chongqing has been cut nearly in half from 12 hours to 7 hours.

The new 347-kilometer high-speed railway has also cut travel times for the southwestern cities Chongqing and Guiyang by more than 80 percent, from 10 hours to two. Meanwhile, travel time from the Sichuan capital of Chengdu to Guangzhou has also been shortened to about 10 hours.

What's even more exciting apart from the drastic cuts in travel time are the affordable ticket prices. Tickets from Guangzhou to Chengdu are priced at just 488.5 yuan ($76.34) for a second-class coach seat and 641 yuan for a first-class coach seat while ticket prices for Guangzhou to Chongqing are just 392.5 yuan for a second-class coach seat and 521.5 yuan for a first-class coach seat.

The railway is expected to boost peer to peer exchanges while also boosting trade between southwestern and northwestern areas of the country. The opening of the new line is also just in time to relieve some traffic pressure for the upcoming Spring Festival travel rush which will begin on Feb 1 and end on March 12. 

A bullet train travels on an overpass on the 347-kilometer Chongqing-Guiyang High-speed Railway. [Photo/ycwb.com]