Holiday train Lu'an departs Shanghai for Dabie Mountains

A new sight-seeing train called Lu'an departed Shanghai Hongqiao Station for Anhui province on Thursday, marking the launch of a new train route aimed at promoting tourism within the Yangtze River Delta region.

Lu'an is a prefecture-level city in western Anhui province, which is part of the YRD.

The train was carrying more than 200 tourists from Shanghai who will go on a 5-day tour of the Dabie Mountains in Anhui province.

Fang Shizhong, director of Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, and Wei Wu, vice-mayor of Lu'an, participated in the inauguration ceremony.

"High-speed train travel is fast, safe and comfortable," Feng said. "The high-speed train resources in the Yangtze River Delta region are as dense as a network of capillaries. We can't waste such good resources."

Fang added that she hope to see more rail travel offerings made available to consumers in the near future.

This year marks the 5th anniversary of the designation of the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta as a national strategy. Industry experts have also pointed out that 2023 would be a key year for the recovery of the cultural tourism industry.