New railway embraced by Gansu agri sector

Builders from China Railway No 4 Engineering Group Co Ltd make progress in building the Xining-Chengdu railway. (XING JIANG/FOR CHINA DAILY)

For years, Gonpo Namgyal, a rancher in Luchu county, Northwest China's Gansu province, has been troubled by inconvenient local transport without railways and proper highways.

As a member of the Tibetan ethnic group, he aims to sell local agricultural and animal husbandry products, handicrafts and unique clothing in Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture to others outside his hometown of Lhamosi (Lhamo Monastery) town.

However, it takes him an hour to drive from his hometown to the county seat, two hours to the prefecture seat of Hezuo and five hours to the provincial capital of Lanzhou.

But good news is on the horizon as the Xining-Chengdu railway, which will pass through his hometown, has started construction, and upon completion he will need only 20 minutes to arrive at Luchu, 40 minutes to Hezuo and less than two hours to Lanzhou.

The railway runs from Xining, the provincial capital of Qinghai province, and after servicing Qinghai's Haidong and Huangnan Tibetan autonomous prefecture, it enters Gannan in Gansu, and Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture of Sichuan province, before arriving in Chengdu, Sichuan's capital.

With trains running at speeds of some 260 kilometers per hour and with an estimated total investment of 58.3 billion yuan ($8.05 billion), the railway will have newly built lines of 533.02 kilometers, including 173.38 km in Qinghai, 183.47 km in Gansu and 200.44 km in Sichuan.