Xinhua reported from Urumqi on 9 November 2026 that a track-inspection locomotive had run on the new standard-gauge line 1 at the comprehensive inspection yard of Alashankou Station, marking the opening of the yard's capacity-expansion project. The account was attributed to China Railway Urumqi Group.
The report said Xinjiang railway authorities organized the expansion this year to meet rising cross-border freight, including new standard-gauge and broad-gauge arrival and departure tracks outside the existing yard, reconstruction of domestic-end safety tracks on both gauges, and capacity upgrades to signal interlocking, centralized traffic control and microcomputer monitoring systems. The work sits on earlier corridor upgrades that began in November 2022, when construction started on a second track of the Lanzhou-Xinjiang railway between Jinghe and Alashankou, with rebuilds at Jinghe, Mogutan, Bole East and Alashankou stations, a new comprehensive inspection yard and a rebuilt container transshipment yard.
After the expansion, the railway said, track congestion in the yard should ease, long queues of wagons waiting for inspection should shrink, and operations can be scheduled more flexibly. Customs and border-inspection work in parallel can be compressed to within 30 minutes, which the report said will support efficient transfer of cross-border cargo and smoother running of China-Europe trains. The same dispatch noted that China-Europe Railway Express services have cumulatively topped 140,000 trains, carrying goods worth more than USD 560 billion.
The 30-minute figure is the railway's stated capability after the upgrade, not a guaranteed time for every train. Buyers should confirm actual dwell, gauge-change and clearance windows with their operator for each consist, especially during peak westbound weeks.