World’s longest railway for coal transport opens
October 8, 2019 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
China is further expanding is freight railway network to guarantee its energy security. The Haoji Railway, the longest heavy-load railway in the world, officially began operations on September 28. The 1,814-kilometer railway connects Ordos in Inner Mongolia with Ji’an in Jiangxi province. It will mainly be used for transporting coal from northern to central and southern China. The line’s construction began in 2015 with a total investment of over CNY193 billion. The railway line has 77 stations and crosses seven provincial regions: Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi. The electric-powered trains on the line can travel at speeds of up to 120 km/h. The planned annual transportation capacity of the railway is more than 200 million metric tons.
In 2020, the line is expected to carry 60 million tons of coal from North China to the central regions, according to the China State Railway Group. The operating company has signed agreements with 42 enterprises which will each receive 500,000 or more tons of coal per year. China’s coal resources are mainly concentrated in Shanxi, Shaanxi and the western part of Inner Mongolia, while coal consumers are mainly located in central and southern China. The line will promote the development of the northern regions’resources, ensure energy supplies in Central China, and improve railway energy transportation between the north and the south. The railway project aims to better connect suppliers and consumers, according to the railway’s Chief Engineer Li Yongjin. In the past, coal would be transported to a station and then transferred by ship or truck. Now, the Haoji Railway can deliver coal directly to factories along the line.
Twenty-one other projects, including a coal gathering station, combined rail-water transportation bases and storage and distribution bases have been completed simultaneously with the line. The railway will speed up coal transport to consumers along the Yangtze river from about one month to 24 hours and cut transportation costs, the China Daily reports.
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