Two new railways connecting Chongqing city to Lichuan city, Hubei province, and Tianjin city to Qinhuangdao city began trial operations this October. These two new routes will greatly shorten the journey between Hefei and Northeast China and Sichuan province.

The railway linking Chongqing and Lichuan is the only section of China's 'four vertical and four horizontal high-speed railway network' still not open. Hefei sits at the center of one 'horizontal railway'. In the future, passengers from Chongqing can reach Wuhan in five hours; they will be able to reach Shanghai in 10 hours.

Currently it takes at least 16 hours to get from Hefei to Chengdu, and 18 hours to Chongqing. After the new route opens to traffic, Hefei citizens can reach Chongqing in seven hours and Chengdu in nine hours. The train tickets are likely to cost between 600 and 1,000 yuan ($98 to $164).

Air routes from Hefei to Chengdu or Chongqing are always busy, and they cost about 1,200 yuan ($196.90), though discounts of up to 200 yuan ($32.80) are available. As for buses, there are very few choices: once a day to Chongqing and none at all to Chengdu. Therefore, the new railroad will provide a great solution, especially during busy seasons when few discounts on air tickets are available.

Edited by Michael Thai, Huang Pei