The travel time between Kunming, Yunnan's capital city and Ruili will be shortened from nine hours by road to around 4.5 hours by train with the railway's opening. The railway's operation will make the shortage of rail transport in Baoshan City and Dehong Autonomous Prefecture a history.

The very first catenary pillars were installed at the future Baoshan railway station in southwest China's Yunnan Province. Construction workers re-measured the basic dimensions and railway clearance, while completing assembling protocols of the catenary pillars.

Engineers also tested the side clearance and the pillar slope angles and the re-test results met the acceptance criteria and reached the relevant parameter requirements.

The launch of the post-station engineering marks major progress in the railway's construction.

"The post-station engineering of the Dali-Ruili railway includes various main subjects such as catenaries, electric power transformation, communication signals, customer service information, disaster prevention, house constructions. The overall railway has entered a critical construction period with the engineering here kicked off. Post-station engineering is the last procedure of the railway's construction, its completion will lay a solid foundation for the scheduled opening of the whole Dali-Ruili railway," said Li Wenyuan, head of transport security department in Nanning-Kunming high-speed railway and Shanghai–Kunming high-speed railway Yunnan company.

The Dali-Ruili railway goes through the Cang Mountain, Nushan Mountain and Gaoligong Mountain in western Yunnan, and also crosses Nujiang River, Lancang River and Xi'er River in the province. The railway traverses rugged, complicated terrain, and bridges and tunnels will account for 75 percent of the total track length. Over 10,000 construction workers have been dedicated to the project for over a decade.