High-speed railway paves way for Guizhou's economic development

The Chengdu-Guiyang high-speed railway passes through Guiyang's Guanshanhu district. [Photo/ddcpc website]

Guizhou, known for its high-altitude mountains and vast hilly terrain, constitutes 92.5 percent of the land area with an average altitude of 1,100 meters above sea level. It is the only province in the country that lacks plains.

In 1965, the Sichuan-Guizhou railway opened and shortened the journey between Chongqing and Guiyang considerably. The route became even faster when the Chengdu-Guiyang high-speed railway commenced operations in late 2019, reducing the travel time between Guiyang and Chengdu to just 3 hours.

Since then, Guiyang started building a high-speed railway transportation circle with major cities across the country, becoming one of China's top 10 high-speed railway hub cities.

The Chengdu-Guiyang high-speed railway passes through coal mining areas, natural gas fields, karst terrain, and a gap of over 2,000 meters between Sichuan basin and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, making it the world's first high-speed railway in a mountainous area.

The completion of the Chengdu-Guiyang high-speed railway not only marked a new chapter in Bijie's history, as it previously had no railways, but also opened up a new avenue for economic development in northwestern Guizhou.

The railway is also expected to bring opportunities to Qianxi city, Dafang county and Qingzhen city along the route.