China said one of the world's longest high-speed railway networks -- the Shanghai-Kunming high-speed line -- began commercial passenger operations on Dec. 28.
The 2,252 kilometer-long line links China's prosperous eastern coast to the less-developed southwest. It traverses five provinces: Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan.
The bullet train line cuts travel time from Shanghai to Kunming from 34 to 11 hours, said the China Railway Corporation. The maximum train speed is 330 km/h.
The Shanghai-Kunming line is the longest east to west high-speed railway in China. Its opening means China's high-speed rail grid now connects almost all provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland.
This early, the Shanghai-Kunming line is being described as China's most beautiful high-speed railway route since many of the train stops are tourist sites. Yunnan is a big attraction for Chinese tourists since the region boasts snow-capped mountains, canyons, tropical forests and ethnic villages.
Trains have led to a tourist boom in several southwest cities over the past few years. In 2016, some 75 percent of visitors to Guilin, a tourist city in Guangxi region, arrived by train.
Train travelers from Guangzhou's Foshan city to Guizhou increased seven-fold, while those to Guangxi rose 67 percent in 2015, said local government officials.
The annual growth of Kunming's tourist arrivals is expected to double with the launch of the Shanghai-Kunming line, said the Kunming Municipal Tourism Development Commission.
Yunnan tourism will get a boost since travelers can reach their destinations faster and spend more time relaxing. The rail line also connects Yunnan with one of the country's leading economic growth zones -- the Shanghai-centered Yangtze River Delta economic zone.
China also launched another high-speed railway line on Jan 4, this one Kunming and Nanning, capital of southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Even longer than the Shanghai-Kunming high-speed line, however, is the north to south 2,298 km Beijing-Guangzhou line that began operations in 2012.
China has built more than 20,000 km of high-speed rail lines. This total will increase to 45,000 km by 2030.