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BEIPANJIANG BRIDGE, GUIZHOU - In one of the loneliest spots in the PRC stands a monument to modern engineering: the massive Beipanjiang railway bridge.

Straddling two mountains over a steep ravine, its single span of 236 meters is the longest for a railway bridge anywhere.

The red arched bridge is an apt metaphor for the ADB-financed Guizhou-Shuibai Railway Project. Like the trains it will carry, the bridge links a previously inaccessible region in western Guizhou to the outside world.

The $381 million project, 40% of which is financed by ADB, has constructed a new 118-kilometer (km) single rail track between Liupanshui and Baiguo over some of the PRC’s most rugged terrain. Bridges and tunnels—the longest is 7 km—cover about 65% of the line. Trials have started and commercial operations will begin next year.

The project, which has also provided some 200 km of supporting roads, is a lifeline for many of the 620,000 villagers scattered over the area.

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Its topography and inadequate transport explain why western Guizhou is one of the PRC’s poorest regions. The rural per capita income is 10% of the national average, and high rates of infant mortality and adult illiteracy persist.

Most of the population— nearly 40% of which consists of minority groups—squeezes a living from the thin, infertile soil. Until recently, most people had no access to electricity, television, basic health services, or education.

Standing on the Beipanjiang bridge, which is more than halfway between Liupanshui and Baiguo, Lin Wenhua, chief engineer of the construction company, recalls what it was like before the bridge was built.

When he surveyed the area in 1999, he crossed the ravine by wading through the waist-high river. “The water was cold, and it took me 3–4 hours to go from one mountain to another,” he says.

These days, housewife Zhan Linmei, who transports her goods in the time-honored way—on foot—crosses the bridge to buy a sack of oranges from a farmer on the other side.

Before the bridge was built, she had to wait for the weekly market in her village of Luoduo. Besides the convenience, she paid the farmer only 50 fen ($0.06) per 500 grams of fruit—half the market price.

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To inhabitants of the nearby village of Maojiaodao, for whom a trip to the nearest town used to mean a difficult trek of several hours over mountainous terrain, the project has brought improvements in their diet, as well as easier access to a range of products.

Her neighbor, Zuo Er, a 74-year-old great grandmother, recalls the difficulties of isolation. “When the rice crop failed, we had to survive on potatoes—and we even cooked leaves from the trees,” she says.

New father Tao Dayong, 28, cradles his son as he says that baby food, milk powder, and clothes are within easier reach, and he can now dream of sending his boy to a good school.

For others, like 30-year-old farmer Ou Dajun who lives farther down the track near the station at Faer, the railway means he can sell more ginger, look around for income-earning opportunities, and enjoy himself in town.

Before the train, Ou would walk for 1.5 hours to catch a bus for a 2-hour ride to Liupanshui if he wanted to buy cigarettes or clothes. With the train, he will go more often to look for work or hang out with friends.

“It’s a hard life to improve things on the farm,” he says. “We don’t have the money to buy inputs or technology to increase our yields.”

His wife Zhao Yinghui adds that the train could be a savior in a medical crisis. She remembers when their baby broke out in spots and they had to carry him over the mountains for more than an hour to reach the nearest clinic.

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Ready for Tourism Guizhou Province's remotness means many of its natural assets- mountains, lakes, and underground karst caves- are relatively unspoiled. The new railway link between Liupanshui and Baiguo will also bring more tourists to western Guizhou, says Deng Shou-bin, an engineer in the ADB Project Management Office.

More than 1,000 families had to relocate because of the project. In the end, however, most appreciated the bigger and better-quality houses as well as access to electricity.

“Most had to move only a short distance, and many said the compensation was more than expected,” says Wang Zhuoxian, Deputy General Manager of the Guizhou- Shuibai Railway Company.

Project construction, which used mostly local materials such as stone, sand, and timber, provided 5 million days of work for underemployed and poor people. The minimum wage of 500 yuan ($60) a month lifted a family of four above the poverty line.

Besides bringing social change, the project will boost the province’s economy by transporting coal and other commodities. Although Guizhou has a high poverty incidence, it is rich in natural resources.

The railway line runs through three major coal fields with reserves of more than 5 billion tons of high grade, low-polluting coal.

Importantly, the line will be a new regional rail link, turning the area into a transshipment center.

“It will cut hundreds of kilometers off present rail routes between the northwestern PRC and Fangcheng seaport in Guangxi Province and will alleviate current bottlenecks in the transport of coal from Guizhou to Sichuan and Guangxi and laborers from the western PRC to Guangdong or vice versa,” says Deng Shou-bin, an engineer in the Project Management Office.

Furthermore, says Mr. Deng, the railway is expected to open up Guizhou’s spectacular natural assets to tourism. He cites as examples the underground karst caves, beautiful lakes, and the famous Hongguoshu waterfall.

The project is also strengthening the capacity of the Guizhou-Shubai Railway Corporation, including its management information and financial accounting services.

Reform has been a key element of ADB railway projects, notes ADB’s former Principal Project Engineer Randhir Soin, who administered all 10 ADB railway projects in the PRC, including the Guizhou-Shuibai line, before he retired earlier this year.

The reforms, says Mr. Soin, have emphasized cost recovery and have helped nudge the country’s vast railway system toward self-sufficiency.

As the new line in remote Guizhou has shown, ADB’s railway projects have helped provide the transport infrastructure that enables the poor to participate in the economic mainstream—and lift themselves out of poverty.

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