Wari railway line, which connects central and southern areas of Shanxi province and Rizhao port in Shandong, railed 5,000 tonnes of coking coal for its maiden delivery and arrived at the destination port on January 13, media reported.

These coals were reported to be coals from Shanxi Coking Coal Group, China’s largest producer of the steel-making material, sources said.

The new railway line may help domestic coking coal supplies gain more attraction and thus put pressure on seaborne materials, said some user sources, while adding the impact would be a gradual process.

"The railway line is expected to largely lower delivered cost of coal to Rizhao port, which would save the total purchase costs for end users in southern China, as they can send small vessels to ship coal from Rizhao", said one end user source.

Yet, some southern China sources said imported coal would remain more competitive in prices, as the decrease in domestic transport cost may be a little slight.

The railway starts from Watang town in central Shanxi’s Luliang city and ends at Rizhao port in Shandong. It’s another pivotal coal transportation channel from the western resource-rich regions to the eastern coastal consumption regions.