China's first railway line built with World Bank loans in Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region has greatly contributed to coal transfer from western China to the developed east, which demands a huge energy supply.

The longest railway in China built with foreign loans, which cost 125 million yuan (US$15 million), runs through areas rich in resources of coal, petroleum and natural gas.

Further extension of the line, which went into operation eight years ago, has shored up its traffic handling capacity from the former 7 million tons to the current more than 12 million tons a year.