The Railway Ministry has put a new wireless mobile communication system into operation in the construction of a railway in the southern part of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Based on digital technology, the new systems enables people to communicate at a distance of nearly one kilometer along the construction route, said Wei Zuqing, inventor of the system and an engineer with the ministry.

In the past, railway personnel had to set up temporary aerial cables for communications along the construction line. After construction of one section of the railway was finished, the cable equipment was dismantled and moved to another site, a very difficult and inefficient procedure.

The new system requires far less investment and time and labor, and officials with the Ministry of Railways suggest that it can also be used in oil exploitation, geological exploration, and traffic-infrastructure construction projects.