High-Speed Rail Links Kunming and Lijiang in Yunnan Province

The People’s Republic of China launched last month a high-speed rail service between Yunnan province’s capital Kunming and Lijiang, a tourist destination and UNESCO World Heritage site.

According to local news reports, the new service also connects Dali City, which will host the Mekong Tourism Forum 2019 in May, and Chuxiong Yi prefecture.

Located in the southwestern part of the country, Dali is an ancient city on the shores of Erhai Lake. It is also a popular tourist destination in Yunnan.

Reports said this is the first high-speed train in Lijiang, which has cut travel time to Kunming to 3 hours from more than 8 hours. Travel time between Lijiang and Dali was reduced to less than an hour from under 2 hours previously.

Dali and Lijiang were once remote areas of Yunnan until a railway was opened to connect the two cities in 2009. The West Yunnan Railway Company together with the Ministry of Railways and the Asian Development Bank built 167 kilometers of railway to connect the cities. The railway brought more tourists to these areas and helped make Lijiang a popular destination.

Read the news report at ECNS.cn.