Recently, the foundation works for the connecting line from the Southern Xinjiang Railway to the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway have been completed. Track laying is scheduled to be finished by September 15, with the entire project expected to be completed by October 1. By then, the Southern Xinjiang Railway will be integrated into the rapid railway network, and travel time from southern Xinjiang to inland areas will be significantly reduced.
Li Shaopeng, a track engineer in the Science and Technology Department of the Third Engineering Company of China Railway 11th Bureau Group, introduced that from July 1 to August 1, a track engineering rush will be carried out. Starting from August 1, T11 long rail cars, large maintenance machinery, rail welding vehicles, and other equipment will successively enter the site.
The reporter learned that the connecting line project from the Southern Xinjiang Railway to the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway has a total length of 16.07 kilometers and an estimated total investment of 540 million yuan. The project is located within Turpan City. The line starts from the west end of Daheyan Station on the Lanzhou-Xinjiang High-Speed Railway, branching into up and down directions, and then connects to the Southern Xinjiang Railway via a newly established Toudaohe line between Turpan Station and Zhenzhuquan Station on the Southern Xinjiang Railway. At the same time, to facilitate the separation of traffic between the Urumqi direction of the Lanzhou-Xinjiang High-Speed Railway and the Korla direction of the Southern Xinjiang Railway, a loop line is set up at the east end of Daheyan Station. These three separation lines together constitute the new railway connecting line project between the Lanzhou-Xinjiang High-Speed Railway (Daheyan Station) and the Southern Xinjiang Railway. After completion, not only will passengers in northern Xinjiang be able to travel quickly, but by connecting the Southern Xinjiang Railway with the high-speed rail, passengers in southern Xinjiang can also quickly transfer to high-speed trains.
The reporter learned that currently, passengers from southern Xinjiang traveling out of Xinjiang or to Urumqi must pass through Turpan Railway Station, which is located in Daheyan Town, about 50 kilometers from Turpan city center. The newly built high-speed rail station—Turpan North Station—is about 5 kilometers from the city center. Although it is convenient for Turpan residents to take high-speed trains, it is too far for southern Xinjiang passengers to transfer to high-speed rail. Therefore, the railway department has specially reserved turnouts at Daheyan Station, the high-speed rail station closest to Turpan Railway Station. Both Daheyan Station and Turpan Railway Station are located in Daheyan Town, and the distance between the two stations is very short. By building a connecting line, transfers will become very convenient.
Currently, the Lanzhou-Xinjiang High-Speed Railway to inland areas only reaches Lanzhou. The key section for the Lanzhou-Xinjiang High-Speed Railway to enter the national high-speed rail network—the Baoji-Lanzhou High-Speed Railway—is scheduled to be completed on July 1 this year. By then, the Lanzhou-Xinjiang High-Speed Railway will be directly connected to the national high-speed rail network, opening up the high-speed rail city network in northern, eastern, and southeastern Xinjiang. This also means that soon, passengers from northern and southern Xinjiang traveling to inland areas can travel by high-speed rail.