China Chengdu-Baoji railway reopens after quake

BEIJING, May 24 (Reuters) - China has reopened the last railway line affected by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake in Sichuan after nearly two weeks, state media said on Saturday, smoothing transport of grains and relief supplies in the province.

Rail services between the provincial capital Chengdu to Baoji, a major rail hub in Shaanxi province, were suspended for 12 days after a tunnel collapsed, setting fire to a freight train carrying gasoline, said the official Xinhua news agency.

The Baoji to Chengdu railway is a trunk line for shipping corn and grain from the northeast, but traders have said major railway lines running to Sichuan province were busy transporting military rescuers and material, so transport of other commodities had virtually halted.

According to Xinhua, the Baoji to Chengdu train will deliver urgently needed tents and medicine for disaster relief to affected areas.

The quake is estimated to have killed 1 million pigs or more, potentially dampening feed demand in the province which normally raises 80 million pigs a year. (Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Lucy Hornby and Bill Tarrant)