Lanxin railway

The Lanzhou−Xinjiang Railway or Lanxin Railway (simplified Chinese: 兰新铁路; traditional Chinese: 蘭新鐵路; pinyin: Lánxīn Tiělù) is the longest railway in northwestern China. It runs 1,904 kilometers (1,183 mi) from Lanzhou, Gansu, through the Hexi Corridor, to Ürümqi, in the Xinjiang. It was Xinjiang's only rail link with the rest of China until the opening of the Lanzhou–Xinjiang High-Speed Railway in December 2014. The railway follows the path of the ancient Silk Road.

The Lanzhou–Xinjiang Railway, often abbreviated as the Lanxin Line, is the longest railway built by the People's Republic of China. It was built by the China Railway Engineering Corporation. Construction of the initial stage (to Urumqi) started in 1952, completed in 1962, and opened in 1966. The extension to the Kazakhstan border was built in the late 1980s, linkup with the Kazakhstan Railroads achieved on September 12, 1990. After the completion of the 20 km Wushaoling Tunnel in 2006, the railway from Lanzhou to Urumqi is all double-tracked.

The Lanxin Railway's eastern terminus is Lanzhou Railway Station. Lanzhou is a railway junction city in eastern Gansu Province, where the Lanzhou–Qinghai, Baotou–Lanzhou, and Longhai Railways converge. From Lanzhou, the line heads west, across the Yellow River, into the Hexi Corridor, where it passes through Gansu cities Wuwei, Jinchang, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Jiayuguan, en route to Xinjiang. Once in Xinjiang, the railway passes through Hami, Shanshan, Turpan, and Dabancheng, before reaching Ürümqi in central Xinjiang.

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