BEIJING, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Liu Zengyuan, a railway engineer, watched familiar fields slip past the train window. This time, he was not heading to a construction site, but going home for the National Day holiday on the high-speed line he had helped build, just days after it opened.
This line, which officially entered service on Sept. 28, links Xiong'an in north China's Hebei Province with Shangqiu in Henan Province in central China. For Liu, it has cut the trip from Renqiu, his workplace in Hebei, to his hometown of Heze in east China's Shandong Province, from four or five hours to only two.
On the same day, China opened three other high-speed rail sections, connecting Xi'an with Ankang in Shaanxi Province in northwest China, Yichang with Xingshan in central China's Hubei Province, and Harbin with Yichun in Heilongjiang Province in the country's northeast. During the National Day holiday, from Oct. 1 to Oct. 7, these new lines made it easier for people to visit relatives, and brought new vitality to tourism along the routes.
During the holiday, a Beijing resident surnamed Wang took his family by high-speed rail to Hengshui Lake, a national nature reserve in Hebei Province. He was pleasantly surprised to find the journey so convenient, as the trip took less than two hours, and a shuttle bus at the station took them straight to the scenic area.
This new line ended the history of Hengshui having no high-speed trains directly running to Beijing. Thanks in part to the new rail line and local promotions, 32 A-level scenic spots across Hengshui received 715,000 visitors during the holiday, soaring 202.84 percent year on year.
"Cities are much closer now, not just on the map but in everyday life," said Qu Xiaoyuan, an Ankang cultural and tourism official. His brother, who works in Xi'an, called him the day the Xi'an-Ankang high-speed railway opened, joking that he could dash to Ankang for a nice meal at home and still be back in Xi'an that night.
The line has cut travel time between the two cities from three hours to as short as 45 minutes. Ankang, a mountainous city in southern Shaanxi, is rich in ecological resources, and the new railway has taken a growing number of holiday travelers to its forests and rivers.
Ankang West Station, a new station built for the high-speed line, handled 50,800 outgoing passengers during the holiday, which was more than expected. The city also launched shuttle services linking the station with major scenic spots, where visits rose over 40 percent year on year.
As these new lines draw passengers from a wider area, weekend and short-holiday tourists may increase significantly, driving demand for multi-purpose and experience-oriented tourism products, Qu said.
Further east, the Yichang-Xingshan line brings destinations like southwest China's Chongqing and central China's Wuhan and Zhengzhou within two hours of Xingshan, weaving the Three Gorges, dense forests and cloud-shrouded peaks scattered along the route into easy, spontaneous trips.
Xingshan Station handled 14,216 outgoing passengers during the seven-day holiday, up 54.61 percent year on year. Local businesses in the city used high-speed rail tickets to link hotel discounts and reduce or scrap scenic spot admission fees.
Meanwhile, the northernmost high-speed railway in China connects Harbin, a major ice-and-snow tourism destination, with Yichun, a popular summer retreat and forest tourism spot. It cuts railway travel time between these two cities from about seven hours to roughly two hours, making it easier for more tourists to include Yichun in their holiday plans.
"Yichun used to be a 'maybe' destination because getting there was a hassle, but thanks to the new high-speed rail, it's now a 'must-go'," said a Shanghai visitor surnamed Zheng, adding that the new line has made the stay of his family in Heilongjiang more colorful.
Wang Wei, director of the Yichun Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism, said the new railway will bring Yichun into Harbin's "two-hour economic circle," creating new opportunities for its winter tourism, forest study tours and forest wellness tourism.
Ma Botao, of the China Railway Economic Planning and Research Institute, said for cities newly connected to the railway network, seizing the opportunity depends on how well they position themselves.
"Generally, large cities focus on research and development, finance and headquarters economy, while small cities should leverage their local agriculture, ecology, tourism and distinctive industrial strengths to undertake supporting manufacturing, agricultural product processing, and wellness and cultural tourism, serving as both industrial supporting bases and leisure backyards for central cities," Ma explained.
Behind these expectations lies a network that keeps growing. By the end of 2025, the country's total operating railway mileage had reached 165,000 km, including more than 50,000 km of high-speed rail.
Under national plans, China's high-speed rail network is projected to hit 70,000 km by 2035, featuring eight north-south vertical lines and eight east-west horizontal lines. Once complete, the network will connect major cities, city clusters and key economic zones across the country. ■
