A landslide in east China's Jiangsu province has suspended rail traffic on the southern part of a trunk railroad linking the Chinese capital Beijing with Kowloon in Hong Kong.

The landslide, which occurred at the K1959 section of the Beijing-Kowloon Railway at 14:30 on Monday, was resultant from heavy rain that has pelted Jiangxi province since July.

Maintenance workers from the Nanchang Railway Administrative Bureau are working feverishly in an effort to restore the railway,and the Ministry of Railway has sent engineers from Beijing to help with the repairs.

Currently, trains are being diverted to other routes and passengers stranded at local railway stations have been relocated,said a local railway official.

Torrential rains had caused an earlier landslide in the same section on Sunday afternoon, which halted traffic for only four and a half hours thanks to emergency repairs.

( Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2002)