Railway staff perform a puppet show aboard high-speed train G3966 which departed from Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province on June 30, 2026. The high-speed railway connecting Xi'an and Shiyan in Central China's Hubei Province, which traverses the Qinling Mountains, officially began operations on Tuesday, reducing the fastest travel time between Xi'an and Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, to 2 hours and 14 minutes. Photo: IC