The Lanzhou-Qinghai railway, a trunk rail in northwest China, will see its transport capability largely improved in early 2009 when an auxiliary line starts operation, according to sources with the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Corp on Saturday.

The 177.8-km-long Lanzhou-Qinghai railway, which links Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province, with its counterpart Xining in Qinghai Province, was built 50 years before, and has served as a transportation artery for the Qinghai-Tibet plateau region.

The auxiliary rail, with a total investment of 4 billion yuan (about US$530 million), was launched in 2006. The rail is 170 km long with a designed speed of 160 km per hour.

Upon completion, the Lanzhou-Qinghai railway is expected to handle 22 pairs of passenger trains per day, with 40 million tonnes of cargos conveyed every year, which will largely relieve the transportation tension along the railways in Qinghai.

(Xinhua News Agency December 6, 2008)