A 299-kilometer-long new high-speed railway linking Xi'an -- the capital city of northwest China's Shaanxi Province -- and Yan'an City in the northern part of the province, which is an iconic revolutionary base of the Communist Party of China (CPC), officially went into operation on Friday, after more than four years of construction.
The Xi'an-Yan'an high-speed railway is designed to handle speeds of up to 350km/h and is set to reduce travel time between the two cities to just 68 minutes.
During the initial operation period, the Xi'an and Yan'an high-speed railway will make 38 trips daily, serving 10 stations including Gaoling, Fupingnan, Tongchuan, Luochuan, Ganquanbei, and Yan'an.
Ahead of the official entry into operation, the Yan'an Railway Station and the Xi'anbei Railway Station rolled out a series of measures such as the provision of bilingual services to meet the diverse needs of passengers from different countries.
"We've practiced the relevant English expressions in advance to ensure that every traveler feels the warm hospitality of our services here in Yan'an," said Liu Yutong, a staff member at the Yan'an Railway Station.
The Xi'anbei Railway Station has additionally set up seven multilingual translation machines and a service center providing sign language services.
"Sometimes, we may meet hearing-impaired passengers. On such an occasion, knowing some sign language is extremely important and convenient for us to serve different passengers," said Chen Peijia, a staff member at the Xi'anbei Railway Station.
Situated in northern Shaanxi Province on the Loess Plateau, Yan'an overlooks the middle reaches of the Yellow River, the cradle of Chinese Civilization. The city is a well-known Chinese revolutionary base area as it once was a command center of the CPC.
The Xi'an-Yan'an high-speed railway is the first high-speed railway leading to the old revolutionary base area of northern Shaanxi. The entry into operation of the high-speed railway is regarded to be of great significance to supporting rural revitalization of the old revolutionary base area of northern Shaanxi and promoting high-quality regional economic and social development.
New high-speed railway in northwest China's Shaanxi goes into operation
