Karamay-Tacheng railway opens

The railway connecting Karamay and Tacheng, two cities in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, opened Thursday morning as the K9858 train left Tacheng for Urumqi.

The railway will help Tacheng, the only prefectural capital in Xinjiang without rail lines, connect to the railway network in China. The railway stretches 272.79 kilometers, including 74 km in windstorm areas.

Total investment for the railway reached 4.687 billion yuan ($678.4 million). It took more than four years for construction workers to finish the project, since they could only work about 180 days a year in windstorm areas.

Yuan Wei, a designer from China Railway Design Corporation who took charge of the design, said they spent more than two years making technological breakthroughs to solve the snowdrift problem.

Yuan said they determined four plans for different sections in windstorm areas, and during the operation they will carry on monitoring and maintenance to improve the design.

"The opening of the railway provides a safe, comfortable and economical way for people to travel in Tacheng," said Ma Lin, deputy director of the development and reform commission of Tacheng prefecture.

Currently there are three pairs of trains — two connecting Tacheng and Urumqi, and one pair connecting Tacheng and Kuitun.

An extension line of the railway from Tacheng to Kazakhstan will be built, making it an important railway passage to Central Asia and Europe.