China's most laborious railway in operation

A train starts its maiden journey from Wanzhou of Southwest China’s Chongqing municipality to Yichang in Central China’s Hubei province at Wanzhou Station, Dec 22, 2010. The Yichang-Wanzhou railway, which goes through some of the most difficult terrain, is considered one of China's most expensive rail projects. A 22.57 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) project, the 377-kilometer railway features 253 bridges and 159 tunnels, including 34 that run through karst topography, or landscape formed by the dissolution of soluble rocks. The length of track that runs through bridges and tunnels is 278 km, or 73 percent of the line's total length. [Photo/Xinhua]