BEIJING, Jan 15 (Reuter) - The first snowstorm in five years to hit northwest China's Xinjiang region paralysed trains in the region but was good news for farmers, the Xinhua news agency said on Monday.

Snow blanketed the region from last Tuesday, sending temperatures in some areas to 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit) below freezing and blanketing the capital, Urumqi, in 40 cm (16 inches) of snow, Xinhua said.

"The invasion of the strong cold air and the snowfall across Xinjiang have somewhat affected the lives of urban residents and transportation," it quoted Sui Yuxin, director of the Xinjiang Meteorological Centre, as saying.

"But it is very beneficial for winter wheat to live through the winter, for the alleviation of droughts since last winter and the agricultural production and animal husbandry this year," he said.

The blizzard caused a 24-hour block on the railway that links Urumqi with Lanzhou in Gansu province and the rest of China, it said.

The Alataw Pass railway station on the Sino-Kazakhstan border was shut for 16 hours, stranding 30 Chinese and foreign passenger and cargo trains, it said.

REUTER