Photo taken on June 30, 2026 shows the railway attendants and passenger taking photo on the first high-speed train of Xi'an-Shiyan high-speed railway at Shiyan East Railway Station in Shiyan City, Hubei Province. The Xi'an-Shiyan high-speed railway was officially put into operation on Tuesday.

The Xi'an-Shiyan high-speed railway officially opened to traffic on June 30, 2026. The 257-kilometer line, designed for 350 km/h, connects Xi'an City in northwest China's Shaanxi Province with Shiyan City in Hubei Province. Integrated with the existing Wuhan-Shiyan high-speed railway line, the new route cuts the journey time between Xi'an and Wuhan to 2 hours and 41 minutes — a significant reduction from the previous 4.5-hour detour. Meanwhile, travel between Xi'an City and Shiyan City has been shortened from more than six hours on conventional trains to just one hour. 

Editor:Zhang Jing