This aerial photo taken on December 16, 2022 shows a train running on the Mile-Mengzi High Speed Railway (middle) that intersects with the Yuxi-Hekou Railway (upper) and the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway (lower) in Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China’s Yunnan province. (Xinhua News Agency/Wang Guanlin)
Mengzi, a county-level city in Yunnan province, recently saw the arrival of its first high speed railway, a process encapsulating the extraordinary journey China’s railway history has undergone from meter-gauge railways built more than a century ago, to the current high speed railways. As early as 1910, construction on the Yunnan section of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway was finished. The line began at Kunming and ran to Hekou, via towns and cities including Mengzi. However, as time passed, the old-fashioned narrow-gauge rail line could not meet the new development needs. In 2013, the Yuxi-Hekou Railway was put into service, and the new 1,435 mm standard-gauge rail line has brought more opportunities to Mengzi.
Now, the county-level city lies on the intersection of three railways. Looking down from an aircraft, the Mile-Mengzi High Speed Railway (middle) that intersects with the Yuxi-Hekou Railway (upper) and the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway (lower), forming a triangle-shaped pattern imbedded in the fields and villages.
The three railways are a testament to rail development in southwestern China. Local residents will no longer have to traverse narrow roads on the cliff sides of mountains when going out, but can travel in safety. The new rail line not only links Mengzi with the rest of China, but with the outside world as well.
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