Bibanpo Tunnel, the Longest Tunnel of the Shanghai-Kunming High-speed Railway, is Completed on June 7, 2015

Bibanpo Tunnel, the longest tunnel of the Shanghai-Kunming High-speed Railway, runs through on June 7, 2015. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

Bibanpo Tunnel, the longest tunnel of the Shanghai-Kunming High-speed Railway, is completed on June 7, 2015

Bibanpo Tunnel, the longest tunnel of the Shanghai-Kunming High-speed Railway, ran through on June 7, 2015.

The 14,756-meter tunnel was the first underground pass to enter Yunnan province and its construction was difficult and dangerous.

It took the construction team four and a half years to dig all the way through, setting an eight-kilometer record for horizontal tunneling of a super-long railway tunnel from one direction.

The completion of the tunnel meant that Yunnan province was able to welcome high-speed trains. When the high-speed trains arrived, travelling from Shanghai to Kunming took less than 10 hours, much shorter than the previous more than 40 hours.

The high-speed railway was a fast track for passenger transportation from southwestern China to central and eastern China when it opened, which promoted economic and cultural exchanges between eastern and western areas of the country.

(Executive editor: Hao Wen)