Three years after loan approval, the government made the decision to double track a section of the Yichang-Wanzhou Railway which connects to the subsequent ADB-financed Chongqing-Lichuang Railway. During project implementation, the Ministry of Railways made the investment to increase the capacity of the congested alternative railway routes, which changed some key assumptions made at appraisal. This highlights the importance of incorporating the overall planning of the sector into the appraisal of a specific project. Moreover, the actual freight traffic in the initial years of operation was significantly lower than the appraisal estimates. Similar to several other completed railway projects in the People's Republic of China, the appraisal estimates for freight traffic were overestimated, while passenger traffic was somewhat underestimated. This is mainly because local manufacturing and mining industries, as the main sources for generated freight traffic, take longer time to develop and adjust their shipping patterns. [Main text, para. 45]
Yichang-Wanzhou Railway Project