By Peng Zengwei and Zhou Peng

NANCHANG, April 1 -- The Anhui-Jiangxi Railway connecting line under the Guixi Railway Station of Yingtan District in East China's Jiangxi Province will still be preserved after being suspended for over 10 years, announced the China Railway Nanchang Group on March 30, 2020.

The 1,000-odd meters long Anhui-Jiangxi railway connecting line under the Guixi Railway Station was built in 1994 to connect two main railway lines, namely the Anhui-Jiangxi railway line and the Shanghai-Kunming railway line. This connecting line can greatly reduce the transition time of military trains between the above two main railway lines. It is of great significance for enhancing the speed of troop maneuver and equipment transportation at critical moments.

In 2006, the Shanghai-Kunming railway line was transformed into an electrified line, but the Anhui-Jiangxi railway remains non-electrified, which makes the electric locomotives unable to operate. As a result, the former busy connecting line at the Guixi Station was gradually deserted and has been out of service for more than 10 years. Due to the high maintenance cost of the decommissioned line, there have been long-time controversies on its fate.

On March 13, the China Railway Nanchang Group held a symposium along with the Nanchang Military Representative Office to discuss its fate. The final decision was to preserve the connecting line and give policy support to national defense transportation facilities.

In the past two years, coping with the local military representatives, the China Railway Nanchang Group has successively constructed new facilities such as military platforms, military catering supply stations and military supply restaurants at some railway stations along the Shanghai-Kunming railway line and Nanchang-Fuzhou railway line. They have also built and maintained assembly sites, platforms and lighting facilities at some railway stations assigned with military transportation tasks, which has greatly improved local military transportation conditions.