Staff members pose for a group photo in front of the first high-speed train departing from Liupanshui. [Photo/ddcpc.cn]

The newly built Anshun-Liupanshui high-speed railway in Southwest China's Guizhou province was officially put into operation on July 8.

The railway is 125 kilometers long with a designated top speed of 250 kilometers per hour. It has eight stops and takes only about an hour to travel from Guiyang to Liupanshui.

During the initial stage of the railway's operation, 10 pairs of high-speed trains will be arranged to run from Liupanshui to Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Chongqing, connecting Liupanshui to the national high-speed railway network.

It is the first intercity railway with a speed of 250 km/h in Guizhou, an extension of the Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway, and a key part of Guizhou's express intercity railway network.

The interior decoration of the first high-speed train departing from Liupanshui. [Photo/ddcpc.cn]

Since the operation of Guizhou's first high-speed railway – the Guizhou-Guangzhou high-speed railway – in 2014, Guizhou has developed a two to eight-hour high-speed railway circle covering the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Sichuan-Chongqing-Yunnan region and the Beibu Gulf.

The Anshun-Liupanshui high-speed railway connects three key cities in Guiyang, Anshun and Liupanshui, and also links abundant tourism sites, ethnic cultures and historic attractions, which will promote regional economic exchanges and tourism development.