January 29, 2008 (LPAC)--China is planning to begin construction this year on two new key rail links to Central Asia: one a supplement to the "Euro-Asian Continental Bridge" which goes through the Alataw Pass to Kazakhstan, and the other the long-planned railroad from western-most Xinjiang, up and over the Tian Shan mountains, to Kyrgyzstan and the famous Fergana Valley to Uzbekistan and Europe. This railroad involves going over passes close to 3,300 meters or 13,000 feet high. This rail line should be completed by 2010, and will be a key link in the southern passageway of the new Euroasia continental bridge, Xinhua reported on Jan. 27, two days after the "Eurasia Continental Express" arrived in Hamburg, Germany in a record 15 days. The regional government of Xinjiang, China made the announcement about the Central Asia lines.

The first rail link will connect Korgas on the China-Kazakhstan border with China's inland railways, and should be finished this year. This rail line will extending west from Korgas into Kazakhstan to join the Sary-Ozek railway, will become the second cross border rail link between China and Kazakhstan, since the Urumqi-Alataw Pass to Kazakhstan rail link was finished in 1992. The new rail line will ease the burden of Alataw Pass, which is the largest land port in northwest China. The Alataw pass handled 5 million tons of rail exports in 2007, up 60% from 2006.

The second rail line is still in preparatory stage, and will be an incredible undertaking. The line will extend west from Kashi in Xinjiang – the city farthest in the world from any ocean -- through Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan.