China opened a railway line around its largest desert, the Taklimakan, in the country’s northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Thursday. The railway line is 2,712 kilometres long and allows for speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour. It has 22 stations, six of which also offer cargo services. It is the first that time a railway line enables trains to skirt around a desert, according to the China State Railway Group (China Railway).