The Chengdu-Guiyang high-speed railway opened to on Monday, shortening the journey time between the capital cities of southwest China's Sichuan and Guizhou provinces to 2 hours 58 minutes.

The rail line running across the complex landscape of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces is the world's first high-speed railway in a mountainous region.

It is 648 kilometers long, with a design speed of 250 kilometers per hour and a total investment of 78 billion yuan (about 11.1 billion U.S. dollars).

There are 24 stations along the line.

Sales of tickets for the railway line began on December 14.

(Cover: A train on the Chengdu-Guiyang high-speed railway.)