TAIYUAN, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Daqin Railway, a major railway specialized in coal transport in northern China, has transported 6.27 billion tonnes of coal in its 30 years of operation, according to the China Railway Taiyuan Group Co., Ltd.
The 653-km railway, which links the city of Datong in coal-rich Shanxi Province with the port city of Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province, was officially launched on Dec. 28, 1988. It connects Shanxi and other coal-rich regions, including Shaanxi and western Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, with the booming east.
Now heavy-haul trains carry about 1.3 million tonnes of coal daily to the port in Qinhuangdao, which is then shipped to customers in regions including the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas.
Daqin Railway was expected to set a new record in annual freight traffic volume this year, said Daqin Railway Co., Ltd., operator of the railway, earlier this month.
In November, 38.47 million tonnes of coal were transported on the railway, an increase of 12.26 percent over the same period last year, the operator said.
The total freight traffic volume in the first 11 months of this year amounted to 412 million tonnes, up 4.78 percent year on year.
Daqin Railway achieved an annual coal transport record of 450 million tonnes in 2014.
