(211205) -- ZHANGYE, Dec. 5, 2021 (Xinhua) -- A bullet train pulls over at the Shandan Horse Ranch Railway Station of the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway in Shandan County, Zhangye City, northwest China's Gansu Province, Dec. 5, 2021. The Shandan Horse Ranch Railway Station, at an altitude of over 3,000 meters, started operation on Sunday. Bullet trains, which can take passengers to Lanzhou, Xi'an, Urumqi, Jiayuguan and Dunhuang, will pull into the station every day. The Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway links northwest China's Gansu Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Situated in the Qilian Mountains, the Shandan Horse Ranch is one of the world's oldest ranches. Its mission as a royal breeding center for warhorses began as early as the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD), and the ranch maintained this mission through centuries. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the ranch, under the control of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), provided horses for military use over a span of five decades. In recent years, with the continuous and conspicuous improvement of the ecological environment in the Qilian Mountains, the Shandan Horse Ranch has been boosting eco-tourism. The operation of the Shandan Horse Ranch Railway Station will help the area's "lucid waters and lush mountains" become even more valuable assets, as more tourists will be able to visit its unique landscape of prairie, horse ranch and snow mountain. (Photo by Wang Chao/Xinhua)