Construction on the Baoji-Laozhou railway section, which is the country's first railway construction in new century, started on January 10 in southwest China's Gansu Province. The railway is expected to play an important role in the economic development of the western region of the country.

The 487-km-long project consists of 95 railway bridges, and 90 tunnels totaling 62,500 meters. It will be built in four years at an investment expected to be some 9.88 billion yuan (about 120 million US dollars), according to the project director.

This rail section, which is also part of the new Europe-Asia land bridge, will increase the daily transportation capacity on the line to 16 return trains and the annual cargo transportation to 13 million tons.

The previous railway section running through these two provinces was opened in October 1952, the first to run through China from west to east. Because it can no longer satisfy the increased transportation needs due to national economic growth since the 1980s, the second line has become essential, said the project managers.