A SECOND cross-border railway linking China and Kazakhstan via Xinjiang's Horgos border checkpoint will commence operation by January, supplementing the rail operations already opened through the Alataw Pass checkpoint, Xinhua reports.

The first run will start from eastern China's port of Lianyungang in Jiangsu province and change to another train at Horgos checkpoint before heading into Kazakhstan's Aarden Corey.

The China rail section is the 286-kilometre-long Jinghe-Yining-Horgos Railway, the first electrified rail service in Xinjiang.

Trade between China and Kazakhstan keeps growing. Annual cargo volume of the Alataw Pass border checkpoint has increased to 15.6 million tonnes this year from 160,000 tonnes back in 1991.

Compared to Alataw Pass, Horgos has a more favourable geographical location as it is the nearest from Central Asia's hub city of Almaty. It is 70 kilometres from Xinjiang's Yining and 378 kilometres from Kazakhstan's Almaty.

China's railway authority said the new route will help Xinjiang open more to the west and turn Horgos into a road and railway hub for trade between China and Central Asia and even Europe.