At 8:05 on December 26, the C57 "Hulk" revival train started slowly from 
Chengdu South Railway Station and headed for Xichang, marking the opening of 
the last section of the new Chengdu-Kunming Railway (Chengdu-Kunming Railway 
expansion and renovation project) - the Emei to Coronation section. At this 
point, the new 915-kilometer-long Chengdu-Kunming Railway has been put into 
operation. 

The New Chengdu-Kunming Railway is constructed under the auspices of China 
Railway Chengdu Bureau Group Co., Ltd. with 30 new stations and 18 altered 
stations. Railroad departments along the line are fully cooperating with the 
opening operation and running passenger trains and cargo trains. Later, 
according to the operation and market demand, the train operation plan will be 
continuously optimized. Meanwhile, the optimized and upgraded CR200J 
power-concentrated locomotive set will be put into operation in the new 
Chengdu-Kunming Railway.

"Welcome to the train, Cimogeni (good luck)!" Next to the brand-new train, 
wearing a Yi pleated skirt, 29-year-old Yi conductor Ayi Buka led the train 
crew to say blessings to the passengers. She comes from Ganluo County, 
Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, once an extremely 
impoverished area. "My home is right next to Ganluo Railway Station. It used to 
take five hours to get home from Chengdu, but now it only takes two hours and 
there are more trains," Ayi Buka said with a smile. Including the large and 
small Liang Shan, the Sichuan-Yunnan junction of the Hengduan Mountains, high 
mountains and deep valleys, geological structure is extremely complex, known as 
the "geological museum", once asserted by foreign experts as "railroad 
forbidden area".

Since the completion of the Chengdu-Kunming Railway, it provides a strong 
transport guarantee for economic and social development. At the same time, with 
the increasing transport demand, Chengdu-Kunming Railway capacity is becoming 
saturated. For this reason, the railroad department decided to build a new 
Chengdu-Kunming Railway in the area along the existing Chengdu-Kunming Railway.

Wang Wei, the general director in charge of the new Chengdu-Kunming Railway of 
the Second Institute of China Railway, the designer, introduced that according 
to the engineering difficulty and transport capacity demand, the new 
Chengdu-Kunming Railway adopts segmented construction and segmented operation 
mode to promote. "Compared with the single-line operation of the old 
Chengdu-Kunming Railway, the new Chengdu-Kunming Railway is a two-line 
operation, the design speed is increased from 80 kilometers per hour to 160 
kilometers per hour, and the transport capacity is significantly increased, 
which will greatly drive the development of resources and economic development 
in the areas along the line." 

"The new Chengdu-Kunming Railway is connected to the Chengdu railroad hub with 
the China-European train Chengyu in the north, and to the Sino-Lao railroad 
through the Kunming railroad hub in the south." Tang Jiqiang, professor of 
Southwest University of Finance and Economics, said that the full line of the 
new  Chengdu-Kunming Railway will strongly promote the great connection between 
China's southwest region, including the twin-city economic circle in the 
Chengdu-Chongqing region, and the international corridor, and help open up the 
country at a high level.

As a transportation artery connecting Chengdu, Xichang and Kunming, the new 
Chengdu-Kunming Railway is a key project for the development of the western 
part of the country and an important channel connecting South Asia and 
Southeast Asia in the construction of "The Belt and Road", which has an 
important role in promoting the economic quality development of the areas along 
the route.

Source: China Railway Chengdu Bureau Group Co., Ltd.