A bullet train runs through a bridge over Wujiang River, a tributary of China's longest river, Yangtze, on the Chongqing-Guiyang line in Zunyi City, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Jan. 25, 2018. A railway connecting Chongqing and Guiyang, two major cities in southwest China, started operation on Jan. 25, 2018. Designed for trains running at a speed of 200 km per hour, the 347-km rail line will cut travel time between Chongqing and Guiyang from the current 10 hours to 2 hours, and shorten travel time between Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, and Guiyang from current 11 hours to 3.5 hours. (Xinhua/Liu Xu)

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Recently, a railway connecting Chongqing and Guiyang, two major cities in southwest China started operation. The launch of Chongqing-Guiyang high-speed railway is part of Chongqing’s project to develop a high-speed railway network in the shape of the Chinese character “米”. That means to build high-speed rail lines in eight directions, connecting Chongqing with eight cities including Xi’an, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Changsha, Guiyang, Kunming, Chengdu, and Lanzhou.

This project is complementary to the plan of the national government to develop a high-speed railway network with eight horizontal lines connecting the east and the west and eight vertical lines connecting the north and the south.

By now, high-speed rail lines linking Chongqing with Guiyang, Xi’an, Lanzhou and Chengdu have been in operation, which have helped improve transportation efficiency and bring social and economic benefits to places along the lines.