Guangtong-Dali Trans-Asian Railway upgraded to handle 200-kph trains

THE Guangtong-Dali section of the western Trans-Asian Railway, from Yunnan province's Guangtong to Dali city, has started to upgrade facilities to run 200 kilometres per hour trains, Xinhua reports.

Guangtong-Dali Railway is one of the major projects in enhancing the transport capacity for southwestern China's province Yunnan and the key component of the western Trans-Asian Railway.

Guangtong-Dali Railway covers a distance of 174.45 kilometres and will set up eight stations, with a designed speed of 200 kilometres per hour. It costs CNY13.94 billion (US$2.24 billion) to build, and is a jointly invested railway. The operation of the railway started in September 1999, but its standard was a little low.