Sichuan is expanding its railway network in a bid to position
itself as a transport hub for western China, governor Jiang Jufeng said at the opening of the
provincial people's congress yesterday.
One major project will be the construction of a railway to
connect Sichuan with Europe and Southeast Asia, Xie Hong, director
of the provincial development and reform commission, said.
Sichuan is an inland province that is also far from the
country's borders.
Almost all cargo Sichuan exports to Europe travels by sea route
from eastern China.
Dai Bin, a professor with the College of Public Administration
at Jiaotong University in the provincial capital of Chengdu, said
the planned railway will open up a new land passageway for foreign
trade between western China and Europe, as well as western China
and North America.
On January 10, Liu Qibao, Party secretary of Sichuan, and Jiang
signed an agreement with Liu Zhijun, minister of railways, in
Beijing to accelerate railway construction in the province.
Under the agreement, the construction of six new railways will
be included in the national railway network plan. The total
investment in Sichuan will be 140 billion yuan ($19.3 billion).
The Chengdu-Lanzhou and Chengdu-Xi'an railways will link Sichuan
with the Central Asia Railway and the Eurasia Continental Bridge,
opening up the province's northern passageway.
On completion of the railways, Sichuan's annual transportation
capacity will grow to 300 million tons of cargo, 10 times the
current level.
The Chengdu-Guiyang Railway will open Sichuan's southern
passageway to link Sichuan with the Beibu Gulf, Pearl River Delta
and Southeast Asia. When it is completed, the annual transportation
capacity will be 160 pairs of passenger trains and 170 million tons
of cargo, 145 pairs and 140 million tons more than now.
The Sichuan-Tibet Railway will create a network linking
Sichuan's western passageway with Tibet, Qinghai province and the
Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
The annual transportation capacity is expected to hit 20 million
tons once the railway is completed.
The new lines will boost Sichuan's total rail network by 1,200
km by 2012, Xie said.
(China Daily January 23, 2008)