Yunnan prides itself in being a little weirder than the rest of China, as exemplified by its "18 oddities" (云南十八怪), a list of some of the stranger phenomena found in the province, such as eggs at the market being packaged with rope, the popularity of smoking tobacco out of bongs and the renowned slowness of the province's trains.
Cords of eggs can still be found in rural markets around the province, and bongs have yet to go out of style, but in the coming years, Yunnan's rail network will no longer stick out because of its slowness.
Yesterday Dali's vice governor Li Hongwei (李红卫) told reporters yesterday that construction will begin at the end of this year on a new high-speed rail line linking Dali with Kunming via Chuxiong. The new rail line will reduce travel time between Kunming and Dali by train to two hours, more than three times faster than the current seven hours.
Li said passenger trains on the new line, which will take three and a half years to complete, will have an average speed of 200 kilometers per hour. No cost estimates for the project were provided.
The Kunming-Dali high-speed rail line is the second high-speed rail project in Yunnan announced in the last year. Plans for a Kunming-Shanghai high-speed rail line were announced in December 2008. The line will have a target speed of 350 kilometers per hour, shortening the travel time between the two cities from 37 hours to 10 hours.
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评论
Chris,
Wow, this is real good news for Dali folks - all those tourists ready to flood Dali!
Saw what I am guessing to be the railway being constructed a month or so ago during a ride from Kunming to Fumin via Anning. Looks pretty legit...very flat and straight with lots of tunnels and bridges.
According to this link (now almost a year old), the line is scheduled for completion in May 2017. It will run at 200km/h.
propertyiskandar.blogspot.com/[...]
Here is another article written in Chinese about the Kunming-Dali link. 2017 is also stated as the intended opening date:
www.yn.xinhuanet.com/info/2015-05/22/c_134260913.htm
Life in Yunnan just keeps getting better. A 2 hour train ride to Dali is a lot better then taking the 4-5 hour bus ride. Not to mention the delays when there is a traffic accident.
I just found this article today:
www.comedali.com/tnew/show/id/2746
Now the opening date has been pushed back to late 2017 or early 2018.
I like how in the original gokunming article it stated "No cost estimates for the project were provided." That certainly turned out to be a major issue with regards to meeting the 2-3 year completion target. I guess I can't say I'm surprised considering Yunnan is known for poor work ethic and corrupt civil servants.
Just announced... construction of high speed rail from Kunming to Dali is complete. Pending finalization/tests, won't be long now till the new line becomes operational. Travel time will be 2 hours!
Is this worthwhile? I don't know.
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