Ningxia joins nation's high-speed railway network

The high-speed railway from Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui autonomous region, to Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, will start operation from December 26, a senior official said at a news conference on Friday.

The transportation time from Yinchuan to Xi'an will drop from 14 hours now to 3 hours. It is the first high-speed railway in the region and marks Ningxia officially joining the nation's high-speed railway network.

Yinchuan-Xi'an railway began construction in December 26, 2015, with an overall investment of 80.5 billion yuan ($12.3 billion). The railway covers 618 kilometers length, with a designed speed of 250 kilometers per hour. It starts from Yinchuan station in Ningxia, stops at Yinchuan east, Hedong airport, Lingwu north, Wuzhong and Huianpu stations in Ningxia, goes through Qingyang in Gansu province, stops at Xianyang in Shaanxi and ends at Xi'an station.

Through Xi'an station, Yinchuan-Xi'an high-speed railway is connected with other major railways of the country including Xi'an-Chengdu high-speed railway to Sichuan province, Datong-Xi'an high-speed railway to Shanxi province and Xuzhou-Lanzhou high-speed railway to Jiangsu province.

Two other high-speed railways in Ningxia are under construction, one is Zhongwei-Lanzhou high-speed railway, connecting Zhongwei in Ningxia and Lanzhou in Gansu province. The other is Baotou-Yinchuan high-speed railway, connecting Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Ningxia.