China's first expressway leading to Jianggangshan, the holy place of Chinese revolution, the expressway from Taihe County, Jiangxi Province to Jinggangshan, has opened to traffic on March 31. Railway construction at Jinggangshan also kicks off on the same day.

Beginning at Nanlongyuan, Taihe County, the Taihe-Jinggangshan expressway runs through ten villages and townships of Taihe, Ji'an county and Jinggangshang city before it ends at Xiaping Township, Jingganshan. The expressway is 62 kms long and 24 meters in width with a designed speed of 80 kms per hour for cars.

As the eastern section of railway from Hengyang to Ji'an and another line linking two south-to-north arteries, i.e., Beijing-Guangzhou and Beijing-KowLong railways, the railway of Jinggangshan section starts from Ji'an Southern Station and ends in Jinggangshan. Construction of the 80.8-km railway is expected to be completed in November 2006.

Once built the railway will facilitate "red tour" to Jinggangshan. At least four pairs of passenger trains will be available daily. The short-term annual minimum cargo throughput will reach 1.6 mln tons and the long-term throughput will hit 3.03 mln tons.

By People's Daily Online