Following the operation of Hengnan Rail, there was another rail "Meikan" put into service. The rail exits to other Province had been increase from original one, that is, Ying Xia Rail, to current three, providing smoothness to the rail transport. Firstly, the improvement at a cost of 18 million RMB was made at major stations and stops along the rail line. Secondly, in the aspect of construction of technological centers, renovation of 13 tracks was completed at a cost of 2.35 million RMB. Thirdly, 4.2 million RMB went to rail infrastructure, among which 2.2 million RMB was for decoration of stations and related buildings and 2 million RMB for other construction and maintenance. Fourthly, an investment of 360,000 RMB went to upgrading of facilities at level crossings. At level crossings without gatekeepers, automatic warning system was installed to improve the supervision and monitoring. Fifthly, there was a breakthrough in "software construction". Xiamen Railway station became the leader in Shanghai Rail Bureau and Fuzhou Rail Bureau to receive no complains from passengers. By the end of 2000, there were a number of stops including Xiamen Raiway Station, North Station, Xinglin Station, Qianchang Station, Dongfu Station, Haicang Station and Baijiao Station. The stations covered a total area of 14716 square metres, while the warehouses had an area of 13491.2 square metres. The rainsheds covered an area of 4150.6 square metres. Bulk yards had an area of 22,808 square metres capable of storing goods of 17304.4 tons.

By the end of 2000, there had been 10 rail routes to Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Xi'an, Chongqing, Hefei, Fuyang (Bangbu), Nanchang, and Wuyishan. For the whole year, there had been 3860 trains departed from Xiamen. Xiamen Railway Station had a daily handling of 414 trains. A total number of 212,600 rails were deployed. All the trains departed or arrived on scheduled time. Xiamen Railway Station had handled 5,154,900 passengers, an increase of 11.74% or 11.49% of all the passengers of Xiamen. 2,543,600 passengers departed from Xiamen Railway Station, up 14.84%. Income from rail transport amounted to 325 million RMB, up 55.5%.

Volume of freight on delivery through rail reached 2.055 million tons, a drop of 5.2%; while the volume of containers on delivery through rail amounted to 312,700 tons, down 20.02%.

Rail and Rail Transport

The operation of Hengnan Railway, in particular, the passenger service between Nanping and Wuyishan which was a special route for tourists, facilitated the rapid development of passenger service by rail in Xiamen. Following one and a half years of construction, Haicang Raiway was built and put into service on December the 30th. The railway built at a cost of some 200 million RMB was 19.3 kilometres long with three stops of Haicang, Baijiao and Dongfu and passed 91 tunnels, 14 intersections and 16 level crossings. It played an important role in the development of Haicang port and the whole Haicang Investment Zone. In addition, the 2nd phase construction of related technological centers was completed and the centres were put into service. Train washing facility and check facility for air-conditioned trains were major part of the 2nd phase construction. With the completion, the original 5 tracks were expanded to 7 tracks. In addition, the other 6 tracks were kept for future use. Currently, the equipment had been installed in the workshops for maintenance of air-conditioned trains. Its operation would provide quality maintenance for air-conditioned ones and provided possibilities of more high-quality trains in service.

As a part of the municipal welfare project, trains entering the island were banned from whistling, the first time in railway history. For that, over 2million RMB was invested to fence the 5.5-kilometer-long rail route in the island. On Oct. the first, trains coming in abandoned the whistling, a measure to lessen the sound pollution.

The rail construction paid a way for the development and provided a "hardware" environment for the rail transport. Following the rail service between Xiamen and Beijing 1998, in July, 1999, with the support of Xi'an Rail Administration, temporary rail service between Xiamen and Xi'an and rail service between Xiamen and Hefei were available in Oct.. At the same time, tourist rails including Xiamen to Wuyishan and Xiamen to Ningbo were put into operation. The number of tourist rails in Xiamen totaled 11. For the whole year, a total of 3461 trains departed from Xiamen. A total number of 137,800 rails were deployed. 99.9% of train in service departed or arrived as scheduled. The number of rail passengers reached 4.4296 million, up 19.6%. Income from rail transport amounted to 209 million RMB, 11% more than the original target of 188 million RMB and an increase of 31.45%, from which income from luggage and parcels reached 18.963 million RMB, up 21.67%.

Freight through rail was 5.7974 million tons, down 3.03%, from which bulk cargos amounted to 2.0434 tons, a decrease of 14.74%; containers delivered were 390,900 tons, a little increase over 1998. The operation of Zhangquanxiao Rail, rerouting of staple commodities, and a reduce of entrepot business including the decreasing amount of stone, oil and chemicals were to blame for a continuous drop in the volume of freight by rail.