Due to damage caused by geographically unstable terrain, traffic on parts of the line was suspended several times.

2 Tunnel are at 3,607 metres (11,834 ft) above sea level,[8] making it the highest high-speed rail track in the world.

This was a test train with a media contingent with full revenue service not due to start until the end of 2014.

[16] Due to geographically unstable terrain on the route, traffic on parts of the line was suspended six times after tunnels sustained damage.

In 2007, strong wind overturned a train on the southern branch of the older conventional rail Lanxin Railway, and four people were killed.

[20] Many sections of the line have experienced roadbed settlement, deformation, subsidence, frost heave, and cracking of the concrete of the track bed caused by saline soil, large temperature differences, and extremely low temperatures.

[33] As a result of the January 2022 Menyuan earthquake, some bridges and tunnels on the line sustained serious damage.

[35] In September 2022, traffic on the line was suspended just north of Xining after a landslide caused the deck of a viaduct to shift.

Meanwhile the existing Lanxin Railway was upgraded to an operational speed of 160 km/h, whereas most sections of the Lanxin high-speed railway are operated at a reduced speed of 200 km/h, such that the difference in travel time compared to the cheaper conventional trains is less than originally envisioned.

[7] As a result of the Belt and Road Initiative, freight transport along the Eurasian Land Bridge corridor increased and the conventional speed Lanzhou–Xinjiang railway sometimes hits capacity limitations, which has led some freight traffic to be shifted to the underutilized high-speed line.