10b yuan investment in railway projects

The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region will spend more than 10 billion yuan ($1.48 billion) on railway construction this year, the regional development and reform commission said on Friday. The investment will flow to major railway projects, including a rail line linking Hotan prefecture with Ruoqiang county. Work on the Hotan-Ruoqiang railway began in December and will last three and a half years. The rail line is designed to be part of a railway network circling the Tarim Basin and a crucial passage linking Xinjiang with other inland regions.