diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/config/package.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/config/package.scala
index 828b70dfe92e9..af0e8f3a6b83c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/config/package.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/config/package.scala
@@ -783,6 +783,17 @@ package object config {
       .booleanConf
       .createWithDefault(false)
 
+  private[spark] val CACHE_CHECKPOINT_PREFERRED_LOCS_EXPIRE_TIME =
+    ConfigBuilder("spark.rdd.checkpoint.cachePreferredLocsExpireTime")
+      .internal()
+      .doc("Expire time in minutes for caching preferred locations of checkpointed RDD." +
+        "Caching preferred locations can relieve query loading to DFS and save the query " +
+        "time. The drawback is that the cached locations can be possibly outdated and " +
+        "lose data locality. If this config is not specified or is 0, it will not cache.")
+      .timeConf(TimeUnit.MINUTES)
+      .checkValue(_ > 0, "The expire time for caching preferred locations cannot be non-positive.")
+      .createOptional
+
   private[spark] val SHUFFLE_ACCURATE_BLOCK_THRESHOLD =
     ConfigBuilder("spark.shuffle.accurateBlockThreshold")
       .doc("Threshold in bytes above which the size of shuffle blocks in " +
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/ReliableCheckpointRDD.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/ReliableCheckpointRDD.scala
index d165610291f1d..ce7c2be56c3cd 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/ReliableCheckpointRDD.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/ReliableCheckpointRDD.scala
@@ -20,15 +20,17 @@ package org.apache.spark.rdd
 import java.io.{FileNotFoundException, IOException}
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit
 
+import scala.collection.mutable
 import scala.reflect.ClassTag
 import scala.util.control.NonFatal
 
+import com.google.common.cache.{CacheBuilder, CacheLoader}
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path
 
 import org.apache.spark._
 import org.apache.spark.broadcast.Broadcast
 import org.apache.spark.internal.Logging
-import org.apache.spark.internal.config.{BUFFER_SIZE, CHECKPOINT_COMPRESS}
+import org.apache.spark.internal.config.{BUFFER_SIZE, CACHE_CHECKPOINT_PREFERRED_LOCS_EXPIRE_TIME, CHECKPOINT_COMPRESS}
 import org.apache.spark.io.CompressionCodec
 import org.apache.spark.util.{SerializableConfiguration, Utils}
 
@@ -82,16 +84,40 @@ private[spark] class ReliableCheckpointRDD[T: ClassTag](
     Array.tabulate(inputFiles.length)(i => new CheckpointRDDPartition(i))
   }
 
-  /**
-   * Return the locations of the checkpoint file associated with the given partition.
-   */
-  protected override def getPreferredLocations(split: Partition): Seq[String] = {
+  // Cache of preferred locations of checkpointed files.
+  @transient private[spark] lazy val cachedPreferredLocations = CacheBuilder.newBuilder()
+    .expireAfterWrite(
+      SparkEnv.get.conf.get(CACHE_CHECKPOINT_PREFERRED_LOCS_EXPIRE_TIME).get,
+      TimeUnit.MINUTES)
+    .build(
+      new CacheLoader[Partition, Seq[String]]() {
+        override def load(split: Partition): Seq[String] = {
+          getPartitionBlockLocations(split)
+        }
+      })
+
+  // Returns the block locations of given partition on file system.
+  private def getPartitionBlockLocations(split: Partition): Seq[String] = {
     val status = fs.getFileStatus(
       new Path(checkpointPath, ReliableCheckpointRDD.checkpointFileName(split.index)))
     val locations = fs.getFileBlockLocations(status, 0, status.getLen)
     locations.headOption.toList.flatMap(_.getHosts).filter(_ != "localhost")
   }
 
+  private lazy val cachedExpireTime =
+    SparkEnv.get.conf.get(CACHE_CHECKPOINT_PREFERRED_LOCS_EXPIRE_TIME)
+
+  /**
+   * Return the locations of the checkpoint file associated with the given partition.
+   */
+  protected override def getPreferredLocations(split: Partition): Seq[String] = {
+    if (cachedExpireTime.isDefined && cachedExpireTime.get > 0) {
+      cachedPreferredLocations.get(split)
+    } else {
+      getPartitionBlockLocations(split)
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * Read the content of the checkpoint file associated with the given partition.
    */
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/CheckpointSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/CheckpointSuite.scala
index 3a43f1a033da1..6a108a55045ee 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/CheckpointSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/CheckpointSuite.scala
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import scala.reflect.ClassTag
 import com.google.common.io.ByteStreams
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path
 
+import org.apache.spark.internal.config.CACHE_CHECKPOINT_PREFERRED_LOCS_EXPIRE_TIME
 import org.apache.spark.internal.config.UI._
 import org.apache.spark.io.CompressionCodec
 import org.apache.spark.rdd._
@@ -584,7 +585,7 @@ object CheckpointSuite {
   }
 }
 
-class CheckpointCompressionSuite extends SparkFunSuite with LocalSparkContext {
+class CheckpointStorageSuite extends SparkFunSuite with LocalSparkContext {
 
   test("checkpoint compression") {
     withTempDir { checkpointDir =>
@@ -618,4 +619,27 @@ class CheckpointCompressionSuite extends SparkFunSuite with LocalSparkContext {
       assert(rdd.collect().toSeq === (1 to 20))
     }
   }
+
+  test("cache checkpoint preferred location") {
+    withTempDir { checkpointDir =>
+      val conf = new SparkConf()
+        .set(CACHE_CHECKPOINT_PREFERRED_LOCS_EXPIRE_TIME.key, "10")
+        .set(UI_ENABLED.key, "false")
+      sc = new SparkContext("local", "test", conf)
+      sc.setCheckpointDir(checkpointDir.toString)
+      val rdd = sc.makeRDD(1 to 20, numSlices = 1)
+      rdd.checkpoint()
+      assert(rdd.collect().toSeq === (1 to 20))
+
+      // Verify that RDD is checkpointed
+      assert(rdd.firstParent.isInstanceOf[ReliableCheckpointRDD[_]])
+      val checkpointedRDD = rdd.firstParent.asInstanceOf[ReliableCheckpointRDD[_]]
+      val partiton = checkpointedRDD.partitions(0)
+      assert(!checkpointedRDD.cachedPreferredLocations.asMap.containsKey(partiton))
+
+      val preferredLoc = checkpointedRDD.preferredLocations(partiton)
+      assert(checkpointedRDD.cachedPreferredLocations.asMap.containsKey(partiton))
+      assert(preferredLoc == checkpointedRDD.cachedPreferredLocations.get(partiton))
+    }
+  }
 }