Xinjiang braces for first high-speed railway

The trial run for the first high-speed railway in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region started on Tuesday, marking a countdown to formal operations by the end of the year and a confidence boost to the region.[Photo/Xinhua]

The trial run for the first high-speed railway in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region started on Tuesday, marking a countdown to formal operations by the end of the year and a confidence boost to the region.

A CRH2-061C high-speed train ran through the 300-km Urumqi-Shanshan section at speeds of 160 km to 277 km per hour. The designed speed is 250 km per hour, but the train must slow down when passing through windy areas.

The train is part of the Second Double-track Line of the Lanxin Railway, which links Lanzhou city in northwestern Gansu province and Urumqi.

The 1,776-km line crosses a vast expanse of the Gobi Desert and windy areas -- a major technical feat -- and will be Xinjiang's first high-speed railway when it begins operation by the end of 2014. With the new railway, travel time between Lanzhou and Urumqi will be cut from the current 21 hours to 8 hours or less.

During the test run, Adi Turdi, 34, became the first Uygur man to operate a bullet train. He normally operates the train from Urumqi to Hami at a speed of 140 km per hour.

The trial run included tests on dynamic response, rails, communications and aerodynamics, and all results were within safety limits, said Fu Lianzhu, chief engineer of the line's trial run project.

Since the railway passes four major windy areas in China, a 462-km wind shield was built to prevent any damage caused by gales, said Fu.

The Lanxin Railway is currently the only railway connecting Xinjiang with other provincial regions. The new line takes a slightly different route, winding into neighboring Qinghai province before re-entering Gansu and picking up the old route that heads northwest toward Xinjiang.

The operation of the new line will complement the current railway networks and serve more of the population, said Erkin Tuniyaz, vice chairman of the regional government.

The line will greatly improve Xinjiang's transport capabilities to Central Asian and European countries and strengthen its role of being the transportation hub along the Silk Road Economic Belt, he said.

In a speech in Kazakhstan last September, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the construction of a "Silk Road Economic Belt" as a way of developing political and economic ties with China's neighbors and accelerating the development of China's western regions.

Xinjiang is a major energy powerhouse for China. Insufficient transport capacity has long restricted the region's development as lots of raw materials and products have to be sent to the inland regions by trucks, which take more time and are more costly, said Lai Xin, a senior official with the region's development and reform commission.

The new line is solely a passenger line, which will spare railway transport capacity and make it more convenient for bulk commodities to be sent out of Xinjiang, he said.

The high-speed railway will also prompt the concentration of talent, goods and capital and boost economic development along the line, said Lai.

Xinjiang is a remote region, and more than half of its population is made up of ethnic minorities who hold Muslim beliefs.

Affected by the terrorist attacks, inbound direct investment in the region was cut by half and tourism revenues were reduced by 40 percent this year, said Lai.

Li Wenqing, an official with the regional tourism bureau, pins hopes on the high-speed railway to revive tourism, which has been hit hard by recent attacks.

Xinjiang received 52 million domestic tourists and 1.1 million foreign tourists in 2013. Li is still optimistic about reaching the target of receiving 57 million tourists this year.

Zulhumar Tursun, 23, an attendant on the test train, is also confident of Xinjang's future. She appears at ease on the security issue as she attends counter-terrorist training every month.

"Xinjiang is not so terrible as you hear in rumors," she said.

"There are Uygurs, Hui and Han colleagues in my nine-member team and we live in peace," she said.