The high-speed rail from Xi'an to Shiyan will start operation on June 30.

A reporter learned today (the 29th) from China State Railway Group that the Xi’an–Shiyan high-speed railway will officially open for operation on June 30, with Xi’an East Railway Station completed and put into service at the same time. The Xi’an–Wuhan high-speed railway corridor is fully connected, making it possible to travel between Wuhan and Xi’an in as little as 2 hours and 41 minutes.

The Xi’an–Shiyan high-speed railway begins at Xi’an East Railway Station, passes through Xi’an and Shangluo in Shaanxi Province, and Shiyan in Hubei Province, and connects to the already completed and operational Shiyan East Railway Station on the Wuhan–Shiyan high-speed railway. The line is 257 kilometers long, with a designed speed of 350 kilometers per hour. The station building area of Xi’an East Railway Station is 100,000 square meters, and its exterior design symbolizes “Qin Mountains and Wei River, Silk Road Chang’an.”

In the initial phase of operation, the railway authorities will run 29 pairs of EMU trains per day. From Xi’an East to Shangluo West and Shiyan East, the fastest travel times are 24 minutes and 1 hour 10 minutes, respectively—reducing the current shortest travel times from Xi’an to Shangluo via the Ningxi line and from Xi’an to Shiyan via the Xikang and Xiangyu lines by 1 hour 22 minutes and 5 hours 19 minutes, respectively.

From Xi’an East to Hankou, the fastest travel time is 2 hours 41 minutes, which is 1 hour 1 minute shorter than the current shortest travel time from Xi’an North via the Xuzhou–Lanzhou and Beijing–Guangzhou high-speed railways.

The Xi’an–Shiyan high-speed railway connects major mainline corridors of the “eight vertical and eight horizontal” high-speed rail network and is an important part of the western high-speed rail network. To the north, it connects to the Xi’an–Yanan high-speed railway; to the south, it connects to the Han–Shiyan high-speed railway. Via connecting lines, it links to Xi’an North Railway Station, and from east to west it connects the Xuzhou–Lanzhou, Xi’an–Chengdu, Yinchuan–Xi’an, and Datong–Xi’an high-speed railways. After opening and going into operation, counties including Lantian, Shanyang, and Yunxi will enter the high-speed rail era, further optimizing the layout of the regional rail network. (CCTV News)