Li Xuejun, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and municipal party secretary, together with other municipal leaders, visited the Urumqi High Speed Railway Station on June 9. It will begin trial operations on July 1.

The station, occupying an area of 100,000 sqm after an investment of $391 million, demonstrates the image of "a pearl shining on the Silk Road on snowy Tianshan". It consists of a station building, a train shed, and passenger drop-off platforms on its underground floor and two above ground floors. It is by far Xinjiang’s biggest railway transport building with the most advanced infrastructure.

After hearing the work report of the Urumqi Railway Bureau and other related departments, Li expressed his gratitude to them for their painstaking efficiency in constructing the station.

He added that the station as a major part of the Silk Road Economic Belt transportation hub was a major project in Xinjiang and a new landmark for Urumqi. He went on to say that the railway department should accelerate the pre-commissioning operation of the station building and the construction of its surrounding facilities such as traffic control and parking lot layout. He said the department should also cooperate in the municipal project to supply water, electricity power, natural gas and heating.

Li noted that the station should be equipped with a bilingual service team ready to inform passengers of the layout of the platforms, the traffic transfer alternatives and the access ways to meet world class service standards.

Urumqi leaders, including Zhang Wensheng, Yuan Baoxin, Fan Xin and Ma Yilei, were present.

By Qiu Guizhen and edited by Peter Nordinger