The new high-speed railway line between Urumqi,capital of the Xinjiang Uygur self-governing region,and Lanzhou,capital of Gansu province,has cut train travel time by half to less than 12 hours. The dramatic improvement will benefit many families planning reunions for Spring Festival. "For the first time,I feel home is not that far away after all,"said Liang Shaofu as he boarded a high-speed train in Urumqi with six members of his family. The 35-year-old left Lanzhou to set up a dry fruit business in Xinjiang eight years ago,and he has now settled in Urumqi. The 1,776-km line,which passes through Qinghai province and is the country's first    high-speed railway to be built in a high-altitude region,came into service on Dec 26. "We normally drive home for Spring Festival to avoid the difficulties of buying seven train tickets for the whole family during the peak season,"Liang said."Driving can be very tiring and dangerous sometimes,so one year we even decided not to go back to Lanzhou simply to avoid the trip." More than 600,000 passengers traveled on the line during its first month,and the Urumqi Railway Bureau said the introduction of high-speed services will ease transport pressure during the Spring Festival peak season. The existing usual railway line could no longer support Xinjiang's development.All    passenger trains will gradually shift to the new link,leaving the old one to be used for goods.As a result,Xinjiang's annual goods ability could reach 200 million metric tons from the current 70 million. The line passes through areas that experience high winds,and it also crosses parts of the    deserted Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the bone-dry sands of the Gobi Desert. The project could help China to promote its high-speed railway technology abroad,said Ma Xi zhang,director of the Lanzhou-Xinjiang railway project's _ management department in Xinjiang. How long did it take to go from Urumqi to Lanzhou by the usual train before?
about 12 hours. About 6 hours. About 18 hours. About 24 hours.