URUMQI - The trial run for the first high-speed railway in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regionstarted on Tuesday, marking a countdown to formal operations by the end of the year and aconfidence boost to the region.

 

A CRH2-061C high-speed train ran through the 300-km Urumqi-Shanshan section at speeds of160 km to 277 km per hour. The designed speed is 250 km per hour, but the train must slowdown when passing through windy areas.

 

The train is part of the Second Double-track Line of the Lanxin Railway, which links Lanzhou cityin northwestern Gansu province and Urumqi.

 

The 1,776-km line crosses a vast expanse of the GobiDesert and windy areas -- a major technical feat -- and willbe Xinjiang's first high-speed railway when it beginsoperation by the end of 2014. With the new railway, traveltime between Lanzhou and Urumqi will be cut from thecurrent 21 hours to 8 hours or less.

 

During the test run, Adi Turdi,34, became the first Uygur manto operate a bullet train. He normally operates the train fromUrumqi to Hami at a speed of 140 km per hour.

 

The trial run included tests on dynamic response, rails,communications and aerodynamics, and all results werewithin safety limits, said Fu Lianzhu, chief engineer of theline's trial run project.

 

Since the railway passes four major windy areas in China, a462-km wind shield was built to prevent any damage causedby gales, said Fu.

 

The Lanxin Railway is currently the only railway connecting Xinjiang with other provincial regions.The new line takes a slightly different route, winding into neighboring Qinghai province before re-entering Gansu and picking up the old route that heads northwest toward Xinjiang.

 

The operation of the new line will complement the current railway networks and serve more of thepopulation, said Erkin Tuniyaz, vice chairman of the regional government.

 

The line will greatly improve Xinjiang's transport capabilities to Central Asian and Europeancountries and strengthen its role of being the transportation hub along the Silk Road EconomicBelt, he said.

 

In a speech in Kazakhstan last September, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed theconstruction of a "Silk Road Economic Belt" as a way of developing political and economic tieswith China's neighbors and accelerating the development of China's western regions.

 

Xinjiang is a major energy powerhouse for China. Insufficient transport capacity has longrestricted the region's development as lots of raw materials and products have to be sent to theinland regions by trucks, which take more time and are more costly, said Lai Xin, a senior officialwith the region's development and reform commission.

 

The new line is solely a passenger line, which will sparerailway transport capacity and make it more convenient forbulk commodities to be sent out of Xinjiang, he said.

 

The high-speed railway will also prompt the concentration oftalent, goods and capital and boost economic developmentalong the line, said Lai.

 

Xinjiang is a remote region, and more than half of itspopulation is made up of ethnic minorities who hold Muslimbeliefs.

 

Affected by the terrorist attacks, inbound direct investment inthe region was cut by half and tourism revenues werereduced by 40 percent this year, said Lai.

 

Li Wenqing, an official with the regional tourism bureau, pinshopes on the high-speed railway to revive tourism, which hasbeen hit hard by recent attacks.

 

Xinjiang received 52 million domestic tourists and 1.1 millionforeign tourists in 2013. Li is still optimistic about reaching the target of receiving 57 milliontourists this year.

 

Zulhumar Tursun, 23, an attendant on the test train, is also confident of Xinjang's future. Sheappears at ease on the security issue as she attends counter-terrorist training every month.

 

"Xinjiang is not so terrible as you hear in rumors," she said.

 

"There are Uygurs, Hui and Han colleagues in my nine-member team and we live in peace," shesaid.