China News Agency, Beijing, June 15 (Reporter Zhou Yin) China National Railway Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the National Railway Group) disclosed on the 15th that on June 16, the Hotan to Ruoqiang Railway (hereinafter referred to as the Heruo Railway) The railway network in Xinjiang has been further improved, forming the world's first desert railway loop - the 2,712-kilometer-long Taklimakan desert railway loop.
The railway department began to sell Heruo Railway train tickets at 12:00 on June 15.
The Heruo Railway starts from Hotan City, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang in the west, and reaches Ruoqiang County, Bayingoleng Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture in the east, with a total length of 825 kilometers and a design speed of 120 kilometers per hour.
There are 22 stations on the whole line. Among them, 11 stations in Hotan, Luopu, Cele, Yuquan Town, Yutian, Minfeng, Nantun, Jinshan, Qiemo, Washixia and Ruoqiang are open for passenger transportation. 6 stations in Le, Yutian, Minfeng, Qiemo and Ruoqiang operate passenger and freight business, and other stations are railway technical operation stations.
The reporter learned from the National Railway Group that the Heruo Railway is located in the southern edge of the Taklimakan Desert, the second largest mobile desert in the world. There are 534 kilometers in the wind-sand area, accounting for 65% of the total length of the line. It is a typical desert railway.
Since the construction started in December 2018, the National Railway Group organized the participating units to take effective and effective measures to overcome difficulties according to the geological characteristics of the desert, ensuring that the project was completed on schedule.
After the opening of the Heruo Railway, the railway department will arrange 2 passenger trains, and the people along the line can take the passenger trains directly to Ruoqiang, Korla, Urumqi and other places, and the fastest from Hotan to Ruoqiang, Korla, and Urumqi. Hours and 50 minutes, 24 hours and 23 minutes.
At the same time, as a convenient logistics channel, Heruo Railway will arrange 8 freight trains, and cotton, walnuts, red dates, minerals, etc. along the line can be directly transported to the mainland by railway.
According to the National Railway Group, the Heruo Railway, the Ruoqiang-Korla section of the Golmud-Korla Railway, the Korla-Kashgar section, and the Kashgar-Hotian section of the Southern Xinjiang Railway together form a 2,712-kilometer loop line around the Taklimakan Desert, which is also the first desert in the world. Railroad Loop.
The loop line passes through five prefectures including Bayingoleng Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, Aksu Prefecture, Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, Kashi Prefecture and Hotan Prefecture, covering tens of millions of people of all ethnic groups in southern Xinjiang.
The completion and opening of this railway has ended the history of inaccessibility of trains in Luopu, Cele, Yutian, Minfeng and other counties in Hotan and Qiemo County in Bayingoleng Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture. It will further improve the structure of Xinjiang’s railway network and speed up The construction of the railway network in the western frontier greatly facilitates the travel and transportation of goods for people of all ethnic groups along the line, and drives the development of resources along the line.
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