Monday's strong earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan Province has severely impaired the province's transportation capacity.

A total of 180 trains had been left stranded due to multiple landslides and collapses along railway lines near the provincial capital Chengdu.

Thirty-one passenger and 149 cargo trains were stranded on the Baoji-Chengdu line, the Chengdu-Kunming line, the Chengdu-Chongqing line and their branch lines linking Chengdu with the rest of the country.

At least 15 cases of landslides and collapses had so far been reported along rail tracks, with 34 railway stations on the Baoji-Chengdu Railway losing power supplies due to the earthquake, Wang Yongping, spokesman of the Ministry of Railways said Monday night.

Wang quoted one case involving the cargo train No. 21043 on the Baoji-Chengdu Railway, which went off the rails and caught fire in a tunnel near Huixian County in Gansu Province, as the tunnel began to collapse. One man was injured during the incident, and the Baoji-Chengdu Railway was terminated.

The Railways Ministry has dispatched rescue teams to the No. 21043 train, and sent repair teams to check railway facilities near quake-hit areas.

All trains running near quake-hit areas have been ordered to halt in open areas, and passengers trains heading for quake-hit areas are awaiting orders to turn back.

By midnight, a number of trains from Chengdu heading for Kunming, Wuchang and Nanchang had resumed running, although about 10 thousand passengers were still stranded at the Chengdu Railway Station.

Several major highways and expressways in Sichuan were also closed Monday afternoon, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Transport along the expressway linking Sichuan provincial capital Chengdu and Mianyang city had been halted since 3:30 p.m.

The roads linking Wenchuan and the city of Dujiangyan remains damaged from the earthquake, blocking disaster relief teams within the city, according to Weng Mengyong, vice Minister of Transport, who had flown to Sichuan after the earthquake took place Monday afternoon.

Landslides also struck several highways in neighboring Shaanxi Province while the national highway linking it with Sichuan Province remained in operation, Weng said.

The Ministry of Transport has been engaged in repairing damaged roads aiming to ensure quake-hit areas' access to disaster relief goods, according to Weng.

The ministry has also asked neighbouring provinces next to Sichuan to prepare reinforce repair work of roads in Sichuan.

In addition, Li Jiaxiang, acting director of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) is also on his way to quake-hit areas in Sichuan to direct disaster relief work.

Li is accompanied by top officials from Air China, which will help with transportation of disaster relief goods.

All staff from Air China have been ordered to cancel vacation plans and return to their posts, the airlines said.

The quake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale jolted Wenchuan County,Sichuan Province at 2:28 p.m., resulting in more than 8,500 deaths reported so far. The epicenter was about 100 kilometers from the provincial capital.

Tremors were also reported in over half of China's provinces and municipalities, the China Seismological Bureau said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2008)