On 28th November 2023, Chinese state railway CR opened the 206 km Qingbaijiang – Zhenjiangguan section of the 836 km Chengdu – Xining line. Construction of the line for speeds of 200 km/h has been complex, given the mountainous landscape more than 2,000 m above sea level, the need to cross several seismically active fault zones, roads, and rivers, and various other geographical challenges, as well as poor road conditions, which hampered transport of machinery and materials to site. Works also included a 12.8 km tunnel built through porous, fine-grained shale and slate. The section was the penultimate section of the line to open, with construction on the 140 km Zhenjiangguan – Haixi section still underway and scheduled to open in 2024.
