Beating blazing sun for coal transport

Chinese railway operators are battling a heat wave to ensure the smooth transport of coal. In the dispatch yard of China Railway Taiyuan Group's Daxin Railway Station, dispatchers climb onto locomotives in order to safeguard the transport of coal out of Shanxi province along the Datong-Qinhuangdao Railway. Fully equipped with thick shirts and rubber gloves, they are drenched in sweat while they examine critical parts of the locomotives whose surface temperature can soar above 40 C. In a single shift they can cover 20,000 steps on foot, get on and off trains dozens of times, all in a bid to ensure trains loaded with coal depart safely.

Yuan weakens against greenback

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, weakened 15 pips to 7.171 against the US dollar on Monday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

Xinhua - China Daily