For years, Gonpo Namgyal, a rancher in Luchu county, Northwest China's Gansu province, has been troubled by inconvenient local transport without railways and proper highways.

As a member of the Tibetan ethnic group, he aims to sell local agricultural and animal husbandry products, handicrafts and unique clothing in Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture to others outside his hometown of Lhamosi (Lhamo Monastery) town.

However, it takes him an hour to drive from his hometown to the county seat, two hours to the prefecture seat of Hezuo and five hours to the provincial capital of Lanzhou.

But good news is on the horizon as the Xining-Chengdu railway, which will pass through his hometown, has started construction, and upon completion he will need only 20 minutes to arrive at Luchu, 40 minutes to Hezuo and less than two hours to Lanzhou.

The railway runs from Xining, the provincial capital of Qinghai province, and after servicing Qinghai's Haidong and Huangnan Tibetan autonomous prefecture, it enters Gannan in Gansu, and Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture of Sichuan province, before arriving in Chengdu, Sichuan's capital.

With trains running at speeds of some 260 kilometers per hour and with an estimated total investment of 58.3 billion yuan ($8.05 billion), the railway will have newly built lines of 533.02 kilometers, including 173.38 km in Qinghai, 183.47 km in Gansu and 200.44 km in Sichuan.

Facilitating local travel

With some 745,900 residents, Gannan now administers Hezuo and seven counties including Luchu, Machu, Tebo and Xiahe.

Located in southwestern Gansu on the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Luchu administers five towns, two townships and two State-run farms. It had 9,852 households with a total population of 38,478 by the end of 2023.

"We have many special products in Gannan produced on plateaus and lowland agricultural regions, as well as animal husbandry, such as yak alongside highland barley and winter wheat," said Gonpo Namgyal, noting that many agricultural and livestock products have high added value after good processing.

"At present, Tibetan fragrant pigs in Tebo, toasted barley flour in Luchu, cheese in Machu and air-dried meat in Xiahe are all well received in the market, and after the opening of the new railway, these products can be transported faster and become tourism products," he said.

He added that with faster transport, he can earn more.

In Luchu county, there will be three stations — Luchu, Tsecha and Lhamosi, said Xing Jiang, an office director from the Seventh Engineering of China Railway No 4 Engineering Group Co Ltd (CREC4), which is partially constructing the railway.

The Xining-Chengdu railway will also serve Huangshengguan station via the Lanzhou-Chengdu railway, which is also under construction, and then the two lines will eventually run as one line, Xing said.