A 238-km section of the Sichuan-Qinghai railway in western China became operational on Tuesday after 12 years of construction.

The first high-speed passenger train was launched at around 11 a.m. from Maoxian County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province, heading for Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan.

The railway crosses the rugged, earthquake-prone plateau region in northwest Sichuan, and takes a detour to avoid disturbing the Giant Panda National Park.

The Sichuan-Qinghai railway, upon completion of the whole project, will be a new rail line connecting the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the highest plateau in the world, with the massive high-speed rail network of China.