Sun Yongfu, Vice-minister of Railways, said at the Western Forum October 22 that, during the "10th Five-year Plan" period, China will build railways to Tibet to promote the economic development of the Tibet Autonomous Region and to strengthen the national defense.

He pointed out that the railway would play a significant role in the western region development. The western region railway development plan is an important component of the "10th five-year" railway development blueprint now in the making.

He noted that during the 10th Five-year Plan period, China would invest 100 billion yuan in railway construction in China's western regions, accounting for about 40 percent of the national total. By the end of the period, some 18,000 km long trunk network of railways will be built to basically relieve the strained situation of transportation in southwest and northwest China.

He also said that the building of an international channel in western regions is an important part of railway construction in west China during the 10th Five-year Plan period.

In addition, it is necessary to intensify efforts to renovate existing railways, besides continuing to expand the capacity and renovation of the Yangpingguan-Ankang line, a task has been newly arranged for the capacity-expansion and renovation of the line from northern Yan'an to Xinfeng Town, capacity-expansion and renovation will also be conducted for the section from Xining to Golmud on the Qinghai-Tibet line, and for the Beijiang (northern Xinjiang) Railway.

Date:Tuesday, October 24, 2000
Peopledaily