The double-track project for the western section of a major Chinese railway went into operation Monday, relieving a long-standing bottleneck on the Longhai Railway, part of the Eurasian Railway Trunk Line linking Jiangsu Province in the east and Gansu Province in the west.
The 350-kilometer double-track railway is part of the Longhai Railway between Lanzhou, capital of Gansu, and Baoji, a major city in Shanxi Province.
The 576-kilometer double-track project for the Baoji-Lanzhou railway is to be completed at the end of 2003, with a total investment of about 10.9 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion).
Upon completion, the Baoji-Lanzhou railway's cargo transport capability is expected to double to as many as 60 million tons, and passenger trains should take four hours less than previously to cross this section.
(Xinhua News Agency January 7, 2003)
