Jinghe–Yining–Khorgos railway


The Jingyihuo railway, short for Jinghe–Yining–Khorgas railway, is the first electrified railway in operation in Xinjiang, China. The line is 286 km in length and connects Jinghe, Yining and Khorgos. The Jingyihuo railway branches from the Northern Xinjiang railway at Jinghe in the Junggar Basin, and heads south through the Tian Shan range into the Ili River Valley. Cities and towns along route include Jinghe, Nilka County, Yining County, Yining, Huocheng County, and Khorgos, on the border with Kazakhstan.
The line opened to trial operation in December 2009. Passenger train service to the Yining railway station began in July 2010. One of the three daily Ürümqi-Yining passenger trains was extended to Khorgos in December 2013.
On its way from the Dzungarian Basin to the Ili Valley, the railway crosses the Borohoro Mountain Range in the 13-km long North Tianshan Tunnel.
The Jinghe–Yining section is electrified.

Connections

In December 2011, a 293-km railway on the Kazakhstan side of the border connected the Khorgos border crossing to Zhetigen terminal. A regular passenger service between Almaty and the Altynkol railway station on the Kazakh side of the border opposite Khorgos opened in September 2012.
It is expected that the railway border crossing at Khorgos will become operational in the late 2012.