On June 6, work resumption ceremony for the project of the sightseeing rail line for suspended monorail vehicle at the Qingyun Cliff Cultural Tourism Town was held in Shadi Township, Enshi City, Hubei Province, marking the commencement of the construction of the world’s first-ever cliff face suspended monorail and China’s first commercial suspended monorail. China Railway Liuyuan Group Co., Ltd. (CRL) is the general contractor of the EPC project, and China Railway Science and Industry Group Co., Ltd. (CRSI) will participate in its construction.

A map of the EPC project of the Qingyun Cliff sightseeing rail line in Enshi.

The rail line is one of the core projects for the Qingyun Cliff Tourist and Holiday Resort, a key project in Hubei Province and the largest cultural tourism project in Enshi City. It will connect the main entrance and key scenic spots in the resort, and form a unique travel itinerary. According to the design plan, the 2.1-kilometer rail line will have three stations and use two-carriage trains capable of transporting 170 passengers one time.

Guests press the restart button at the work resumption ceremony.

According to representatives from CRL, the suspended monorail adopts rubber-tire transit system, which features high climbing capacity, small turning radius, greater comfortableness and better views. As a small and medium-capacity transit system, it serves as a supplement to the coordinated development of multimodal rail transportation, and can save land and costs and reduce the construction period. Therefore, it is particularly suitable for auxiliary lines of the urban rail system or sightseeing lines, and has promising prospects.(By Geng Keqiang, Suo Fei, Yao Qianqian and Lan Tingqiu)

A trial suspended rail in the CRSI production base.