The signing of Summary of accelerating the construction of a railway in Sichuan province by the Ministry of Railways and the Sichuan provincial government recently marked the beginning of China's policy to further re-enforce the development of railway construction in Sichuan province and its surrounding areas. This construction will create land and water transport lines linking Sichuan with the rest of the country and thoroughly change the harsh traffic conditions there. In addition, the construction of this railway in Sichuan province will form a new international material flow centre with the Chengdu railway hub as its basis.

Huang Min, director of the Development and Planning Department under the Ministry of Railways, noted that in accordance to the plan drawn by the Ministry of Railways, the general direction of railway development in Sichuan province will give priority to connecting eastern provinces, while giving consideration to the link-up with the southwestern regions and radiating to the northwestern provinces. The future plan will link up the Chengdu-Wuhan-Shanghai huge transport capacity railway line, which includes both passenger lines and freight transport lines. The railway from Chengdu to Shanghai via Suining, Dazhou, Wuhan and Hefei is mainly for 100-million tonnage freight transport purposes.

It is reported that the associated departments in Sichuan province will kick off the renovation work of the Chengdu-Dazhou line and build multiple tracks for the railways within the province, which have absorbed a total investment of 18.4 billion yuan. The Sichuan provincial government also plans to build the Sichuan section of Lanzhou-Chongqi railway, the Chengdu-Emei section multiple track of the Chengdu-Kunming railway as well as the multiple track of the Suining-Chongqing railway. These three projects will be started in the "Eleventh Five-Year" plan, and the total investment is expected to reach 15.8 billion yuan.

By People's Daily Online