China's experts in railway construction said in Urumqi on December 29 that after the Nanjiang Railway in northwest China was put into operation, the south passage of the second Euro-Asia continental bridge is expected to open soon.

The passage starts from east China's Lianyungang port, and goes west to Kashi, a key city in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, then extends to Uzbekistan and joins the railway network in central and southern Europe, said Xiong Chunfan, chief engineer of the First Survey and Design Institute of the Ministry of Railways, in an interview with Xinhua.

Xiong said that the new railway, which passes through China's 11 provinces and autonomous region, as well as Turkey, Greece and Italy, will become a shortcut connecting east Asia, the near East and south Europe, and should help improve their trading.

Analysts have pointed out that opening the south passage is in line with the Chinese government's strategy to develop the west; it will also speed the opening up of the inland and deepen the political and economic relationship between China and its neighbors.

According to Xiong, there is still a gap along the passage -- the planned China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan international railway -- and the three countries have signed an agreement to build it.

The 577-km railway, begins from China's Kashi and runs through Kyrgyzstan and ends in Uzbekistan, a length of about 485 kilometers.

The Euro-Asia continental bridge, which is in fact a railway transport system across Europe and Asia, connects the Atlantic and the Pacific and significantly shortens the transportation distance.

The first continental bridge between Russia's port in the Far East and north Europe in England opened in 1967.

The north passage of the second bridge, the longest continental bridge in the world, connecting the Lianyungang port and the Netherlands's city of Rotterdam, was put into use in 1990.

However, a speedy detour is still needed for cargo transport between China and south Europe, which can't meet the fast- developing demand of international trade.

Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, which are not satisfied with the current inefficient transportation system that links them with China, are urging that a new international railway be built, said Xiong.