An article was just published on "China's famous 'cable girl' returns to help remote village after graduating from university with medical degree."

Yu Yanqia, a member of the Lisu ethnic minority, nicknamed 'cable girl' comes from high up in the mountains of Yunnan province." She was documented in 2007, crossing the river at age 8 to go to school.

"A nationwide fundraising initiative was set up afterwards and a bridge was built over the river the following year using the money raised. Yu and other local children were spared from risking their lives every day just to get an education."

"She has decided to return home as a medical worker after her graduation from university, the first person in her village to obtain a higher degree."

The story and photos of her can be viewed here:

www.scmp.com/[...]

The Dali–Ruili railway appears to be completed after over a decade since breaking ground.

Wikipedia entry may need to be updated:

"Darui railway (大瑞铁路), is a single-track electrified railroad under construction in Yunnan Province of Southwest China. The line is slated to run 336.39 km (209 mi) from Dali to Ruili on the border with Myanmar. The line traverses rugged terrain, and bridges and tunnels will account for 75% of the total track length, including the 34.5 km Gaoligongshan Tunnel through the Gaoligong Mountains.

Construction began in May 2011 and was scheduled to take six years. However, this has been repeatedly delayed, and as of 2019 the railway is scheduled to open only in 2022. Cities and towns along route include Dali, Yangbi Yi Autonomous County, Yongping County, Baoshan, Mangshi and Ruili.

The line will have a design speed of 140 kilometres per hour (87 mph)."

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dali%E2%80%93Ruili_railway

Can the map image be posted in better resolution, perhaps downloadable? As others have said this version is useless even when zoomed in.

Kunming gets better and better, don't you think? It amazes me how far it has come in just a few years.

Because of the Metro Line 5 opening in our area, we have just gained another 3 bus services in our area. We live in a area a little off the beaten track, before we only had one bus.
It may be worth regular commuters, who live near line 5, checking to see if they have picked up any new bus routes.

I was referring to the map above which is to small to be of practical use.

It's available on amap 高德地图. Should also soon be available on Metroman since they seem to use amap for their maps.

Yes. A schematic map is only useful to find your way on the system that is mapped. For most tourists and strangers to the system, a map that relates to what is on the ground (above) is much more useful.

I could be mistaken but the I thought that the metro lines used to be shown on Googlemaps. But not any more apparently.

Would be nice to see a map we actually can read ;-)

How do you use the 乘车码 app on Wechat? It has never accepted my passport number as verification. I'm on Android. I just use Alipay, but I am still curious.

At the moment there is only a cargo train and no passenger train so no.

Is it possible to enter China on this train? I am a resident here and need to go to Europe and the US. Can I reenter on this train and the Quarantine in Yunnan

Appreciate the update.

It's entirely possible the starting point of the new light rail would be located near Yuquan Road (玉泉路) in the proximity north of Yunnan Tourism and Culture College (云南文化旅游学院).

The open track of the light rail visibly runs parallel to Yuquan Rd. This road is renamed "旅游环线" further up north, though still labelled as Route S223 if navigating on maps. A swathe of land is available to the east of S223, compared to areas south of tourism college. Details of the stations should be announced in the months to come.

As for public transport connections to the light rail. Bus 11 may approach the potential station starting point, while bus 101 should reach even closer to the designated location your Lijiang friend described.

Both bus routes start at Lijiang Old Town. Bus 11, often packed with locals, terminates at tourism college along S223. Bus 101, which caters to tourists, travels all the way to the main entrance visitor's center of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain with fixed rate of 15 yuan per pax, notwithstanding the alighting point.

A heads up for commuters going up the mountain:

The bus 101 driver will ask to see negative test result (within 48-hour period) upon boarding. More strictly enforced if boarding 101 at the preliminary 忠义市场 Lijiang Old Town bus station.

En route to the national park gate, all passengers' temperatures will be scanned, movement tracking and health codes will be inspected at a security check-point prior to reaching the Dongba area.

At this time, entering the east portal access through the main gate on S223 would encounter stringent measures compared to the south portal access across from Yuhu Village.

Downloading offline map apps for hiking/tubu is recommended as network signals are weak or nonexistent deep into the mountain trails.

I've been trying to locate the start of the new light rail line from Lijiang to the national park. A friend in Lijiang informs it begins off of Route S223, known locally as Yu Quan Lu (玉泉路), 7 km north of Old Town, between Shuhe and Baisha. I don't know if this is one of the five stations mentioned in the China Daily piece or the actual southern terminus, in which case no rail link from Lijiang train station.

Something else that will affect visitation to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain park. On a recent visit to Daju I noticed a new bridge under construction across the Jinsha River. For years a ferry has shuttled cars (except during periods of low water) and passengers across, but that will change with completion of the bridge. No doubt new popularity for auto tours/buses making the loop through Tiger Leaping Gorge with return to Lijiang through the park.

Yesterday (on May 5, 2022), the 14.7km railway tunnel of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain was finally penetrated after eight years of toil by a thousand workers.

This is not the same panoramic light rail in Lijiang discussed previously.

The Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Tunnel, which exits the Jinsha River Tiger Leaping Gorge, is considered one the most arduous and important tunnel sections of the 139km Lijiang Shangri-la Railway. Also dubbed Lixiang Railway, aka 丽香铁路.

Slated for completion this year, the Lixiang Railway consists of 13 stations, crossing 34 bridges, and cutting through 20 tunnels.

The travel time will take about half an hour from Lijiang to Shangri-la, passing through Lashihai, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Tiger Leaping Gorge, and Haba Snow Mountain.

So far, 19 of 20 tunnels of Lixiang Railway have been completed. The remaining one being the 9,523-meter Haba Snow Mountain Tunnel, currently under construction.

Hopefully by the end of this year, it will only take five hours by high speed rail to travel to Shangri-la from Kunming.

Total cost of this endeavor is estimated ~10.5 billion yuan, but a vital link for the planned Yunnan-Tibet Railway.

For more details of the geological challenges and photos:

mp.weixin.qq.com/s/aieR51pUxrG1lMxI26KJUQ