A new railway that circles the world’s second-largest sand-shifting desert has begun operating in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in western China, after a new section completed the loop. The first passengers boarded the Hotan-Ruoqiang railway on Thursday as Beijing doubles down on its vast project to integrate the region with the rest of the country – while Western companies look to diversify and decouple from the supply chain in Xinjiang, citing fears of sanctions and human rights concerns. The rail line completes a 2,712km (1,700-mile) railway around the Taklamakan Desert in a world first circumnavigation of a desert, national railway operator China State Railway Group announced. The 825km new section of railway runs from Hotan city in southwestern Xinjiang to Ruoqiang county in the southeast, a journey of about 11½ hours, with a design speed of 120km/h (75mph). It has 22 stations, including 11 offering a passenger service, six with a cargo service and stations for technical operations. The new line connects to three existing desert railways, enabling trains to pass through five prefecture-level regions in Xinjiang and for five counties in southern Xinjiang to have access to a train service for the first time. The completion and opening of the railway will aid the transport of local specialities – including cotton, walnuts, red dates and minerals – to other parts of China, according to China State Railway Group. The company said the new line would “boost railway connections in the western border areas which would ease the flow of people and goods and promote the development of the areas along the line, which will play a role in boosting ethnic unity, strengthening national defence and promoting rural revitalisation”. European Parliament passes landslide vote on alleged Xinjiang rights abuses Dozens of countries voiced concern in a joint statement on Tuesday over alleged abuses in the Xinjiang region, including “credible reports” – vehemently rejected by China – that more than 1 million Uygurs and members of other Muslim minorities had been arbitrarily detained in the region. They also demanded that the UN human rights chief publish a long-delayed report on the rights situation there. Construction on the Hotan-Ruoqiang railway, which runs along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert, started in December 2018. Some 65 per cent of the route sits in a sand and storm zone, making construction extremely difficult. To protect the railway against sandstorms, the engineers built five viaducts with a total length of 49.7km, allowing wind and sand to pass under the bridges. A total of 50 million sq metres of grass squares were built and 13 million shrubs and trees were planted to form a green barrier to prevent sand disrupting the railway and to protect the rail line. Chinese authorities are also hoping a planned China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway – a 523km (325-mile) route connecting the three countries and starting from Kashgar – will bring economic opportunities to Xinjiang by linking eastern China with Europe and the Middle East.