Scenic Ride Across Yunnan from Kunming to Dali Aboard CRH Train D8714 6/21/25

It may look like an E2 Shinkansen, but this is not a high-speed service. We hit a top speed of 200 km/h (125 mph) which is the same as the Northeast Regional. I didn't get a chance to take a proper G train on this particular trip, though I've done it in the past. For my first time on a D-series EMU service, it was okay but not as nice as my trips on the Jinghu and Huning high-speed lines. The car got quite humid throughout the trip, and in general the stock down here seems to be less well maintained than those used in the Eastern part of the country. While the price was cheap as an American with American dollars, it's important to note that Yunnan is still quite poor despite a thriving tourism industry. Having said that, the views on this trip were probably the most scenic that I've seen from any decently-fast train and sustaining 200 km/h over such mountainous terrain is still an amazing achievement. We spent probably about 35-40% of the route in tunnels. Discord Server:   / discord   Timestamps: 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:35 D8714 Arriving Kunming Station 00:01:22 Departing Kunming (2 mins early) 00:26:17 Lufeng South Station 01:11:03 Dali Station