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China renovates railway to serve quake zone reconstruction

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-11 11:06

China has begun renovating a railway that links Sichuan province's capital Chengdu and neighboring Xi'an province's Baoji city to better serve reconstruction in earthquake-hit areas.

Xi'an Railway Bureau dispatched more than 5,000 workers and 150 large scale vehicles to renovate the Baoji-Chengdu railway starting May 9. The repair work, covering rail grinding and railroad switch replacing, is scheduled to last 50 days.

Related readings:  Expressway under construction linking quake-hit Wenchuan  After the quake, there is love, there is hope  China targets early completion of post-quake rebuilding  Sichuan receives 15.75b yuan in quake donation

The Baoji-Chengdu route is a key north-south railway line in west China. It had been used as a major route for transporting relief goods to Sichuan after the May 12 earthquake last year.

The 8.0-magnitude earthquake damaged the southern section of the railway and caused collapse of No 109 tunnel in Gansu province on May 12. The collapse resulted in a blaze on a train carrying gasoline.

The tunnel was reopened to traffic 12 days later and a new tunnel was built to the north side

of the old one five months later with steel-reinforced concrete. The new tunnel opened to traffic on November 12.