Typhoon Utor cuts off Beijing-Guangzhou train line

Source:Global Times-Agencies Published: 2013-8-18 23:33:01

Passengers line up to get their tickets refunded at the Changsha railway station in Hunan Province on Sunday, hours after the torrential rain-triggered landslides collapsed a section of Beijing-Guangzhou railway and cut off the rail services in provinces along the line. Photo: CFP

Passengers line up to get their tickets refunded at the Changsha railway station in Hunan Province on Sunday, hours after the torrential rain-triggered landslides collapsed a section of Beijing-Guangzhou railway and cut off the rail services in provinces along the line. Photo: CFP


The railway service between Beijing and Guangzhou was cut off early Sunday, when a section of rail in Guangdong Province collapsed due to landslides triggered by four days of torrential rain.

The Guangzhou Railway Group said Sunday that although the railway had essentially been restored after 20 hours of repairs, train services departing from the province using the track would remain suspended until Monday.

Passengers were traveling again by Sunday afternoon, after 18 trains had been temporarily added to the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed rail network. The group said that 80,000 passengers were affected on Sunday morning.

Since Utor, the 11th typhoon of this year, landed on Guangdong Wednesday, it has also brought heavy rain to neighboring regions including Guangxi, Hunan and Hainan.

On Sunday, the National Disaster Reduction Commission and the Ministry of Civil Affairs launched an emergency response to rainstorms and floods in Guangdong.

The province has seen 20 people killed and 4.16 million affected by the typhoon, which has also caused 4.9 billion yuan ($801 million) in economic losses. Another seven people have been reported missing.

Utor has killed six people and affected another 822,900 in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region as of Sunday afternoon. The typhoon ended a massive drought and high temperatures that had afflicted some parts of Hunan for over 50 days. Since Thursday, five people have been killed, with another five missing. Some 400,000 people in the province have been affected.

The emergency response on Sunday came right after alerts were issued to Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin provinces in northeastern China on Friday and Saturday.

Some 3.67 million people in those provinces have been affected so far. The Xinhua News Agency said on Friday that Heilongjiang has witnessed the most serious floods since 1984, bringing water levels in three major rivers in the province to dangerous levels.

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