Construction of the Northern Xinjiang railway (terminus pictured) was completed between Ürümqi South and Alashankou, linking the railway lines of China and Kazakhstan and adding a sizeable portion to the Eurasian Land Bridge.

The Northern Xinjiang railway or Beijiang railway is a railway in Xinjiang, China, between Ürümqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang, and Alashankou on the border with Kazakhstan. The railway is 460 km (290 mi) in length and runs along the northern slope of the Tian Shan mountain range, connecting all major cities and towns of the southern Junggar Basin, including Changji, Hutubi, Manas, Shihezi, Kuytun, Wusu, Bortala (Bole), Jinghe and Alashankou. The line extends the Lanzhou–Xinjiang railway west from Ürümqi to the Turkestan–Siberia railway on the Kazakh border and forms a section of the Trans-Eurasian Railway from Rotterdam to Lianyungang. The line opened in 1992. It was partially funded by a government loan from the Soviet Union.

Ürümqi South railway station is a railway station of the Lanzhou–Xinjiang, Northern Xinjiang and the Second Ürümqi–Jinghe railways. The station is located in Ürümqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. The name of the station was Ürümqi railway station from 1962 until 1 September 2014. This name is now assigned to the newly built high-speed railway station of the Lanzhou–Ürümqi High-Speed Railway.

Alashankou railway station, also known as Alataw Pass railway station, is a railway station in Börtala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The Eurasian Land Bridge, sometimes called the New Silk Road, is the rail transport route for moving freight and passengers overland between Pacific seaports in the Russian Far East and China and seaports in Europe. The route, a transcontinental railroad and rail land bridge, comprises the Trans-Siberian Railway, which runs through Russia and is sometimes called the Northern East-West Corridor, and the New Eurasian Land Bridge or Second Eurasian Continental Bridge, running through China and Kazakhstan. As of November 2007, about one percent of the $600 billion in goods shipped from Asia to Europe each year were delivered by inland transport routes.