The Study Of Railway Planning For Coal Transportation In Inner Mongolia

ABSTRACT: Coal is a reliable energy in China. Inner Mongolia abounds with coals, and produces a great lot of coal and exports it to other provinces and foreign countries. In recent years, exported coal increases 10 million tons a year. Because there are a few railways to connect the outside, there is insufficient railway capacity for coal transportation. As a result, there is a competition among coal trains, passage trains and other goods trains. In addition, coal mining is also limited by the insufficient transportation capacity. Since coal mines are located in wide areas, lack of railway lines discourages investors. Difficulties in coal transportation constrain the development of coal resources. Therefore, planning of railways for coal transportation would be conducive to optimizing railway networks in the region and promoting socioeconomic development.Through projections of transportation demands in the planning years, the paper proposed three plans (i.e., short-term plan, mid-term plan and long-term plan) using a network planning method. The plans are based on the data related to coal resources locations in Inner Mongolia, national economic development plans, transportation development plans, and market coal demands. A network for coal transportation was proposed, which consists of railways to the outside, railways within the region, and branch railways to coal mines. There will be 17 railways to the outside, namely the Jinin-to-Baotou section of the Jing-Bao railway line, the Baotou-to-Huinong section of the Bao-Lan railway line, etc. There will be 8 main railways connecting with the railways to the outside, namely the Baotou-to-Dabao section of the Bao-Xi railway line, the Tarangaole-Guannianfang railway line, etc. There will be 17 railway branches. Among them, Ji-Tong line, Xi-Wu line and so on provide East-West transport channels, Bao-Shen line, Bao-Xi line, Zhun-Dong line and so on provide North-South transport channels.The implementation of the railway plan for coal transportation requires a lot of capital. It was suggested that the central government should fund main railways and seaports, and encourage local governments along the lines and enterprises to invest in the railways. Local railways may be funded using project financing and/or joint ventures if they have reliable demand. Branch railways for enterprises should be free for the enterprises to construct them.The proposed railway plan for coal transportation has formed a reasonable network. It would be useful for the development of railways for coal transportation in Inner Mongolia. It is also helpful to development of coal resources in Inner Mongolia.