Trans-continent Railway to Spur China's International Trade LinksConstruction on a railway section, part of the southern branch of the second trans-continental railway between northwest China and southern European countries, is expected to be initiated soon in central Asia.Upon the completion of this 500-km Kashi-Andizhan railway section, the trans-continent railway, starting from Turpan and running through Andizhan in Uzbekistan, will skirt the Caspian and Black seas to end on the Atlantic coast of southern France. The whole railway will become the south branch of the 10,000-km Second Asia-Europe Continental Bridge that links China's coastal regions with Rotterdam in the Netherlands. "The railway will greatly tighten the economic ties between China, Central Asia, the Middle East and southern Europe," said Wang Lequan, Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China. The railway will have a transportation capacity of at least 10 million tons a year, and experts from China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have already concluded their feasibility studies and all the preparatory work in the past three years, said Guo Minjie, former Party secretary of the Urumqi Railway Bureau. Construction will start as soon as money arrives, according to Guo. China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are now working out relevant financial arrangement with the Asian Development Bank. |
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