Chinese railway authorities have taken measures to ensure normal operations as the fourth cold wave of the winter struck some northern regions on Monday.

Many parts of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province have been experiencing blizzard conditions since Monday night. High-speed rail lines and overhead line systems have frozen up, resulting in a poor power supply to the railway.

In Mudanjiang Station, more than 300 workers were mobilized to clear snow and ice along railway lines, turnouts, platforms, entrances and exits to ensure smooth operations.

In northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, more than 20 power plants are facing a short supply of coal with their stocks able to last fewer than 12 days. As a result, local railway authorities have intensified their efforts to better cope with the cold waves and provide strong support for coal transportation.

"In order to ensure the normal arrival and departure of trains and the shunting operations, we organized staff to uninterruptedly clear the snow at the railway junctions, trying to shorten the transit time of China-Europe freight trains at the station and improve the organizational efficiency of coal transportation so as to guarantee the needs of coal-fired power plants," said Geng Wei, an assistant engineer of the operation workshop at the Wuxi Railway Station, China Railway Urumqi Group.

The cold waves have mainly affected northeastern parts of China, and the latest was expected to last about three days with drastic temperature drops.

(Cover image is a screenshot.)

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