Railway authority has temporarily closed the South Xinjiang
Railway and 1,500 people were stranded on a highway in northwestern
China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Sunday
because of strong winds.
The South Xinjiang Railway was closed at around 9:00 a.m. Sunday
and had not opened to traffic by 5:00?PM as winds remained
very strong, according to the enquiry office of the South Railway
Station of Urumqi.
Two trains with thousands of passengers aboard running from
Kashi to Urumqi, the region's capital, were delayed, while at least
six others shuttling between Urumqi and southern parts of Xinjiang
were cancelled as hurricane-force winds of up to 117 km per hour
swept over parts of the railway.
Meanwhile, about 1,500 people in more than 300 vehicles were
stranded on Sunday evening as winds of at least 89 km per hour hit
the Turpan section of National Highway 312.
Windows in some vehicles were broken by stones in the winds.
There were no reports of casualties at the moment.
The Turpan government has arranged schools, hotels and
government buildings to accommodate the stranded people and has
prepared food and water for them.
An official with the Turpan government said traffic might resume
on the highway on Monday morning when winds weaken.
In February, hurricane-force winds derailed 11 carriages of a
train in Xinjiang, killing three passengers and injuring 34
others.
In April last year the windows of a train from Urumqi to Beijing
were cracked by a sandstorm and the train was delayed 32 hours near
where the fatal accident occurred.
(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2007)
