The Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway officially opens to traffic today, encircling the Taklimakan Desert

June 16

Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway

(hereinafter referred to as Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway)

Start operation

It takes 11 hours and 26 minutes from Hotan to Ruoqiang

Xinjiang railway network further improved

Forming the world's first desert railway loop

——2712 kilometers long

Taklimakan Desert Railway Loop

The Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway starts from Hotan City in Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang in the west and ends in Ruoqiang County, Bayinguoleng Mongol Autonomous Prefecture in the east. It is 825 kilometers long with a designed speed of 120 kilometers per hour. It is a national Class I single-track railway with reserved conditions for electrification.

There are 22 stations along the entire line, of which 11 stations, namely Hotan, Lop, Cele, Yuquan Town, Yutian, Minfeng, Nantun, Jinshan, Qiemo, Washixia and Ruoqiang, provide passenger services; 6 stations, namely Hotan, Cele, Yutian, Minfeng, Qiemo and Ruoqiang, provide passenger and freight services; the other stations are railway driving technical operation stations.

The Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway is located on the southern edge of the Taklimakan Desert, the world's second largest mobile desert. 534 kilometers of it are located in the windy and sandy area, accounting for 65% of the total length of the line. It is a typical desert railway.

Since the construction started in December 2018, China Railway Group has organized construction units to take effective measures to overcome difficulties according to the geological characteristics of the desert, ensuring that the project is completed on schedule. In view of the serious water shortage in construction and concrete maintenance along the line, 434 bridge piers were prefabricated and assembled using pier body prefabrication technology, and prefabricated components were processed in the factory in advance before being assembled on site, effectively overcoming the impact of water shortage on the construction progress; in view of the problem of strong wind and sand in some sections and the dynamic migration of sand dunes that easily buries the line, the bridge-to-road method was adopted, and 5 sand-crossing bridges with a total length of 49.7 kilometers were built, allowing the wind and sand to pass under the bridge, greatly reducing the threat of wind and sand to the line; in accordance with the construction concept of "building railways in the desert, sand control must be carried out first", the construction of wind and sand protection projects was simultaneously promoted, a total of 50 million square meters of grass grids were built, and 13 million shrubs and trees such as Haloxylon ammodendron, Tamarix, and Hippophae rhamnoides were planted to form a green barrier to prevent sand and protect the road.

Before the project was put into operation, the China Railway Corporation strictly followed various regulations and standards, carefully organized the inspection and acceptance of various professional equipment of the Hotan-Ruozhou Railway, and made comprehensive optimization and adjustments to the track status, train control, communication and signal systems, etc. At present, the project fully meets the requirements for safe and stable operation of passenger and freight trains and is ready for operation.

After the opening of the Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway, the railway department will arrange two passenger trains, and people along the line can take passenger trains directly to Ruoqiang, Korla, Urumqi and other places. The fastest time from Hotan to Ruoqiang, Korla and Urumqi is 11 hours and 26 minutes, 17 hours and 50 minutes, and 24 hours and 23 minutes respectively. At the same time, as a convenient logistics channel, the Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway will arrange eight freight trains, and cotton, walnuts, red dates, minerals and other products along the line can be directly transported to the mainland by rail.

The Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway, the Ruoqiang-Korla section of the Golmud-Korla Railway, the Korla-Kashgar section of the Southern Xinjiang Railway, and the Kashgar-Hotan section together form a 2,712-kilometer Taklimakan Desert Railway Loop, which is also the world's first desert railway loop. The loop passes through five prefectures and autonomous prefectures in Xinjiang, including Bayinguoleng Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Aksu Prefecture, Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, Kashgar Prefecture, and Hotan Prefecture, covering tens of millions of people of all ethnic groups in southern Xinjiang.

The completion and opening of this railway ended the history of no trains in Lop, Cele, Yutian, Minfeng counties in Hotan Prefecture and Qiemo County in Bayinguoleng Mongol Autonomous Prefecture. It will further improve the railway network structure in Xinjiang, accelerate the construction of the western frontier railway network, greatly facilitate the travel and cargo transportation of people of all ethnic groups along the line, and drive the development of resources along the line. It is of great significance to maintaining national unity, consolidating frontier national defense, and helping rural revitalization.

The railway department began selling tickets for the Hotan-Ruokuo Railway at 12:00 on June 15.

Source: China Railways (ID: chineserailways)