Construction on a new railway line linking China's poor western and prosperous eastern regions began on Friday.

 

The 944-km line will run through Shanxi Province in North China, Shaanxi Province and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in Northwest China.

 

It will link Shanxi's capital city Taiyuan with Zhongwei, Ningxia.

 

This line, known as Taiyuan-Zhongwei (Yinchuan) line, will cost 30.32 billion yuan (US$3.79 billion), and will be completed by the end of 2010.

 

After completion, it is expected to connect railways from Qingdao, a coastal city in East China's Shandong Province, to Urumqi, capital city of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

 

Allowing speeds of 160 kilometers per hour, the railway will be able to transport 60 million tons of cargoes a year, such as coal, oil and natural gas, from the less-developed west of China to the economically-advanced east of China. This will play a major role in promoting the economic development of the western region.

 

Forty passenger trains will also operate on the railway line every day.

 

At present, there is only one major railway, the Longhai railway, which links China's west to its east. This 1,735-km line starts at Lianyungang, a coastal port city in East China's Jiangsu Province, and ends at Lanzhou, capital city of Northwest Gansu Province.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2006)