Xi'an-Yan'an high-speed railway to begin operations

A 299-kilometer high-speed railway linking Xi'an and Yan'an cities in northwest China's Shaanxi Province is set to begin operations on Friday.

Tickets for trains running on the new rail route went on sale on Thursday.

As the railway traverses gully regions of the Loess Plateau, the construction of its tunnels went through multiple challenges of complex geological conditions, according to Wang Haiting, a project manager of the China Railway No.3 Engineering Group.

"The project department actively adopted advanced geological prediction and other methods to conduct comprehensive analysis on the tunnels' geological conditions, effectively reducing the risks of convergence, rockfall, and collapse," Wang said.

At the initial stage of operation, rail authorities will operate no more than 38 trains a day, with supporting facilities beginning operations simultaneously.

With a designed top speed of 350 kilometers per hour, the high-speed service is expected to significantly improve the convenience of travel and support rural revitalization in the old revolutionary base area.

"Upon the completion of the Xi’an-Yan’an high-speed railway, it will take only 19 minutes, 27 minutes, and 68 minutes to travel from the Xi'an North Station to the Fuping South Station, Tongchuan Station, and Yan'an Station, respectively, which saves 56 minutes, 102 minutes, and 62 minutes as compared with the current travel time by general speed trains," said Ma Jingyu, deputy director of passenger services at the Xi'an North Railway Station.

Yan'an holds profound historical significance, having served as the base of the Communist Party of China Central Committee from 1937 to 1947.

With the opening of several lines by year-end, China's high-speed rail mileage is expected to exceed 50,000 kilometers.

Xi'an-Yan'an high-speed railway to begin operations

China's 5G user penetration rate surged from 15 percent to 83.9 percent during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), an official from the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission said on Thursday.

Wen Ruisong, head of the Informatization Development Bureau under the office, said that over the past five years, China has accelerated the construction of intelligent and integrated information infrastructure, establishing the world's largest and most technologically advanced fiber-optic broadband and mobile communication network.

"During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's 5G user penetration rate rose from 15 percent to 83.9 percent, gigabit broadband users increased from 6.4 million to 239 million, and mobile Internet of Things users expanded from 1.136 billion to 2.9 billion. This progress marks a clear acceleration in the shift from 'internet of everything' toward 'intelligent connection of everything," said Wen.

According to Wen, China's network infrastructure has been continuously enhanced, with the number of active IPv6 users growing from 462 million to 868 million over the five years.

Meanwhile, the quality and scale of China's computing infrastructure have also seen significant improvement.

China now operates 12.5 million standard racks in active computing power centers, with intelligent computing capacity reaching 1,053 EFLOPS, Wen said.

China's 5G user penetration rate surges to 83.9 pct