A key electric railway line linking Baoji in northwest China's Shaanxi Province with Lanzhou, capital of neighboring Gansu Province, is expected to open to traffic at the end of June, one and a half years ahead of the schedule.
At a cost of 9.88 billion yuan (US$ 1.19 billion), the construction work of the 487-km railway line started in January 2000.
The construction work of the line, the longest to be added to the electric railway network in western China, includes 89 bridges and 108 tunnels.
Upon completion, the Baoji-Lanzhou line, part of an inter-continental railway linking China's coastal area to some European harbors, will see a rise in its annual transport capacity from the current 13 million tons to 45 million tons.
(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2003)
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