The 1,776-kilometer Lanzhou-Xinjiang high-speed railway is due to be completed by the end of this year. The new line will run through three regions along the ancient Silk Road in Northwest China - Gansu and Qinghai provinces and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

It will be the first line to pass through the Tibet Plateau, known as the "roof of the world". With a maximum speed of 250 km/h, the railway will halve the travel time between Beijing and Urumqi to 20 hours and that from Lanzhou to Urumqi to nine hours.

An area of track on the Lanzhou-Xinjiang line. [Photo by Ni Shubin/Asianewsphoto]