11月10日早间英文播报：Xi: Build high-quality Sichuan-Tibet Railway

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Aerial photo taken on March 11, 2019 showsa train running on the Chengdu-Ya'an railway in Ya'an City, Southwest China'sSichuan province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Presidentunderscores importance of project to development of western region

President Xi Jinping has called for effortsto advance the construction of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway project with highquality, saying that it has great relevance to promoting socioeconomicdevelopment in the country's western region.

Xi, who is also general secretary of theCommunist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central MilitaryCommission, made the remark in an instruction on the construction of therailway's Ya'an-Nyingchi section, which started on Sunday.

Xi said in the instruction released onSunday that the Sichuan-Tibet Railway project is a significant step inimplementing the Party's strategy of governing the Tibet autonomous region inthe new era. It is crucially important for the country to safeguard nationalunity, enhance ethnic solidarity and consolidate stability in border areas, hesaid.

Noting that the geological conditions andthe climate along the railway are complex and the environment is fragile, Xisaid construction of the project will face rarely seen difficulties.

He called for leveraging the advantages ofthe country's socialist system in terms of mobilizing all available resourcesto fulfill major tasks.

Xi urged China State Railway Group Co totake the major responsibility for the project, and he required relateddepartments and the governments of Tibet and Sichuan province to strengthensynergy and coordination in the process to ensure high-quality construction ofthe project in a scientific, safe and environmentally friendly manner.

Premier Li Keqiang also made an instructionon the construction of the project. He emphasized prioritizing the safety,reliability and quality of the project, and called for coordinated efforts topromote construction, epidemic prevention and people's well-being.

Joining a videoconference streamed in threelocations to mark the start of the construction of the Ya'an-Nyingchi section,Vice-Premier Liu He conveyed Xi's instruction and announced the launch of theconstruction.

Following the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, whichopened in 2006, the Sichuan-Tibet Railway, covering a distance of 1,838kilometers, will be the second rail line connecting the autonomous region withthe rest of the country.

Construction of the line is taking place inthree stages. The Chengdu-Ya'an section became operational in December 2018,and construction of the Lhasa-Nyingchi section started in June 2015 and isstill underway.

With a designed speed of 120 to 200 km perhour, the 1,011-km section between Ya'an in Sichuan and Nyingchi in Tibet isthe third part of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway.

The middle section of the Sichuan-TibetRailway will be one of the world's most challenging railway projects because itwinds through the Sichuan Basin, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and theQinghai-Tibet Plateau, climbing from 600 meters above sea level to nearly 4,500meters, experts said. It will pass through complicated geological conditionsfraught with avalanches, landslides, earthquakes, heat, karst caves andunderground streams.

Once completed, the railway will cut thetravel time between Chengdu and Lhasa from more than 40 hours to around 13hours. Millions of people along the line will benefit from the project as itwill facilitate travel between Tibet and the rest of the country and lead toincreased tourism.

Find more audio news on the China Dailyapp.

记者：曹德胜

播报：CorrieKnight

音频编辑：万月英

原文链接：

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202011/09/WS5fa87981a31024ad0ba83d2e.html