A railway became operational Sunday in west China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region, which is expected to boost the transportation from China to central Asia and Europe, said local railway authorities.

The railway, called Second Urumqi-Jinghe Line, runs 381.5 km and links the region's capital Urumqi and Jinghe County. It has a designed transportation capacity of 67.1 million tonnes, which is expected to grow up to 91.7 million tonnes in the future. With a designed speed of 120 km per hour, the railway cost 2.77 billion yuan, according to a statement from Xinjiang Railway Bureau.

Jinghe is linked to Horgos and Alataw Pass, ports on the China-Kazakhstan border, by two other railways. One starts from Jinghe and ends at Horgos. The other runs from Urumqi through Jinghe to Alataw Pass.

The launch of the new railway would greatly enhance China's transportation capacity to Kazakhstan and further into other countries in central Asia and Europe, the statement said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2009)