Another day on the train, this time from Kunming (population approximately 9million) to Chengdu (population approximately 21 million). We were on a Dclass train, China's second fastest train class, capable of speeds up to 250km/h, though today we did not experience speeds over 170/h. Never the less the journey took 8.7 hours (9:50 to 18:30) inlcuding stopping at 8 stations for at least 5 minutes each. Thats an average of about 137km/h. On top of that much of the route was through mountainous terrain, and I mean through because again a significant portion of the route was inside tunnels. From a railway technology point of view this was an amazing journey.

Todays journey got me curious about how Chinese railways stack up against the rest of the world. The USA has the worlds largest railway network at 220,000 km and China is second at 159,000 km. But when it comes to highspeed passenger networks China eclipses the rest of the world with 40,000 km of track compared to Spain;s 3600 km of high speed track. In fact Spain, France and Germany combined do not come close to China in terms of volume.

The third picture is the waiting hall at the station from which we departed today. It is one of 2 long distance stations in Kunming and that waiting hall is one of 6 in this station. It seems that eveything about the Chinese railway is supersized.

The remainder of the photos give a flavour of the day. Agriculture everywhere, highrise dwellings everywhere some of the finished and some not, haze/pollution everywhere, and power stations and power lines everywhere, motor scooters and electric bikes everywhere (though no photos of those).

The last photo is the view immediately outside the arrival station. Chengdu has 3 long distance stations with a 4th under construction.

If you are like me and were/are ignorant of Chengdu's fame, it is famous for Sichuan food, and Pandas