CHENGDU — A tunnel on the new Chengdu-Kunming railway was drilled through on Oct 7, marking a further step towards the completion of the whole railway project.

The new Chengdu-Kunming railway, which runs almost parallel to an existing railway between the two cities, is a key project linking Southwest China's Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.

The tunnel is on the Emei-Miyi section of the railway, the only section that has not been open for operation yet on the project, according to the China Railway No 5 Engineering Group Co Ltd, which participated in the construction of the tunnel.

With a designed speed of 160 km per hour, the new railway project is expected to greatly improve the passenger and cargo transport capacity in the southwestern region.