The whole line of quake-damaged Baoji-Chengdu railway reopened to traffic Saturday after 283 hours of closure, allowing batch transport of disaster relief goods to China's quake-hit Sichuan Province.

No. 977 train carrying urgently needed relief goods of tents and medicines passed through the railway's No. 109 tunnel at 9:53 a.m. Saturday, where a 40-car freight train derailed and was trapped, paralyzing the railway in the May 12 earthquake.

The railway, linking Chengdu, provincial capital of Sichuan, with Baoji city in neighboring Shaanxi Province, is a key north-south route in west China.

The southern section of the railway reopened on Friday after workers finished repairs on a key bridge that was damaged by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake with its epicenter in Wenchuan County, Sichuan.

Meanwhile, the northern part of the railway remained blocked due to the difficulties in pulling the derailed wagons, which carried gasoline, from the damaged tunnel.

For the past 12 days of rescue operation, rescuers and relief goods had been transported into the mountainous quake zone mainly by airlift or through frequently disrupted road links, because of the closure of the damaged railway.

(Xinhua News Agency May 24, 2008)