NanGuang Railway Project

closed

The objective of the NanGuang Railway Project is to provide additional transport capacity and reduce transport time between the less developed western region of southwest China and the relatively more developed Pearl River Delta region. The components of the project include: the project achieves its development objective by connecting the existing railway network in the western region of southwest China and the existing railway network in the Pearl River Delta region. It will also connect to numerous network improvements underway or planned which will directly contribute to optimizing the benefits to rail transport provided by this project. The project alignment is relatively direct connecting urban centers such as Litang, Guigang, Wuzhou, and Zhaoqing. The project passes through generally lightly-populated country and traverses a variety of terrains including flat alluvial terraces and eroded basins and hilly river valley basins. Sixteen intermediate railway stations and four overtaking stations are planned to be built or reconstructed as part of the project. The new track of the project will run parallel to the existing track between Litang and Guigang (about 59 km). Between Litang and Guigang, freight trains will operate on the existing track while the passenger trains will use the new project track. Power will be provided from the nearby city grid to the 'traction substation' (i.e. transformer house) in the railway station under an electricity purchase contract and by the local power company. There will be connection lines between the traction substation and the city grid. These lines are parts of the city grid and not separate dedicated electric transmission lines for the project. The planned construction period is about four years. Construction commenced in April 2009 and the project is proposed to be commissioned by 2014. At the time of appraisal, mid- April 2009, land acquisition had begun, though resettlement and construction had not. Nonetheless, construction, once begun, is expected to proceed rapidly.