Beijing railway

　　THE western section of Beijing’s urban railway, connecting Xizhimen with the northern suburb of Huoying, began trial operations Saturday.

　　The 20.62-km-long railway is the first light railway to operate in Beijing.

　　The Xizhimen-Huoying railway is the western section of Beijing’s 40.85 km urban railway system, which is designed to improve passenger transport in the northern suburbs of the city.

　　Construction of the 6.57 billion yuan (about US$791 million) project began in 1999 and the entire system is expected to operational next year.

　　Foreign experts

　　FIFTY-ONE foreign experts working in China received this year’s Friendship Award at a ceremony in Beijing yesterday, in recognition of their outstanding contributions to China’s economic and social progress.

　　Expressway

　　THE Hubei Province segment of the Beijing-Zhuhai expressway was completed when the central province’s southern section opened to traffic Saturday.

　　The expressway connects Beijing to Zhuhai via Guangzhou, both in Guangdong Province, over a total length of 2,310 km.

　　The northern section and the Junshan Yangtze River Bridge, Wuhan city section of the three-part expressway project were completed and put into service late last year. With the completion of the 110-km southern section, the 339-km Hubei portion of the Beijing-Zhuhai expressway has been completed.

　　Air route

　　AIR China will run a regular air route linking Beijing with Urumqi, capital of Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region beginning Saturday, Beijing Daily reported Saturday.