Dedicated railway line to Tieshan Port opens to traffic

As a train loaded with 60 TEUs of goods departed from Tieshan Port to Yulin, the dedicated railway line of Tieshan Port in Beihai, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region officially opened to traffic on April 16, marking the completion of the 'last-mile' of the the port's sea-rail transport network.

The dedicated railway line of Tieshan Port in Beihai, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region opens to traffic on April 16. [Photo provided by Li Junguang to chinadaily.com.cn]

Starting construction in June 2018 with a total investment of about 500 million yuan ($70.66 million), the dedicated railway line of Tieshan Port is a key project of the construction of the western Land-sea Trade Corridor.

It connects Tieshan Port terminal with the Yulin-Tieshan Port Railway. In the long-term planning and construction, 10 lines from the port will be built and 27.2 kilometers of railway station lines will be reserved. The designed annual freight volume will be 14 million tons in the near future and 20 million tons in the long term.

The railway line will significantly reduce enterprises' logistics costs and enhance the comprehensive competitiveness of the port. It is estimated that the logistics cost of Tieshan Port to eastern Guangxi and central China can be reduced by about 6 yuan per ton, which will save at least 80 million yuan per year.

The dedicated railway line will also connect Tieshan Port with the Nanning-Kunming Railway, Hunan-Guangxi Railway, and Guizhou-Guangxi Railway, greatly promoting the circulation and trade of goods between the Beibu Gulf and various provinces in the country.