[7] The line is 825.5 kilometres (512.9 mi) long and runs from west to east.

Together with those railways it forms a 2,712 km (1,685 mi) loop around the west of the Tarim Basin, linking Hotan, Lop, Qira, Yutian, Minfeng, Qiemo and Bayingolin.

[4] The route includes five viaducts over the sand with a combined length of 49.7 km (30.9 mi), designed to allow sandstorms to blow under them.

[8][9][4] The longest is Niya River Grand Bridge, which has a total length of 18,628.46 metres (61,117 ft 0 in).

[10] Further protection against sand has been provided by putting about 13 million shrubs, such as sacsaoul and sea buckthorn, into 5,000 ha (12,000 acres) of grass grids[4] (straw-edged rectangles of about a metre square).