Connecting the west coast of the Taiwan Straits and the mainland's middle and western areas, a new railway between Ganzhou in East China's Jiangxi Province and Longyan in neighbouring Fujian Province began operation yesterday.

The 290-kilometre-long railway, took three years to build at a cost of 6.33 billion yuan (US$763 million).

Initially operating at a limited freight capacity of 10 million tons, the railway is expected to open for passenger traffic in October.

Directly linked to the Beijing-Kowloon Railway from Ganzhou East Station, the new rail link will speed up construction of the economic zone on the west coast of the Taiwan Straits, said Fujian Vice-Governor Li Chuan.

It will also ease the transfer of industries, such as electronics manufacturing, machinery manufacturing, export processing and agricultural planting and processing, from Taiwan to Jiangxi, Hunan and other middle and western provinces in the nation, Li said.

Situated in mountainous regions, many areas along the railway have suffered from slow economic growth due to inconvenient traffic links.

Liu Cigui, Mayor of Longyan, said the new railway will help these areas to cast off poverty and become more prosperous.

Source: China Daily