(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-01-07 23:45

China hopes to run the China Railway High-speed (CRH) train with a speed of 350 kilometers per hour on the new railway. The latest model of CRH series with a speed of 300 kilometers per hour, rolled off the production line only last month.

Sources close to the project said that apart from the civil engineering, bidding and procurement for other relevant projects ranging from the signal system to the construction of the upgraded CRH trains will soon start.

The Beijing-Shanghai Express Railway project, which has been under discussion for more than ten years, officially kicked off in late December after the inauguration of the Beijing-Shanghai Express Railway Company Limited.

With an estimated total investment of 160 billion yuan (US$21 billion), the railway, upon its completion after 2013, will cut travel time between the Chinese capital and its economic hub from the present 10 hours to about five hours, doubling the existing transport capacity of 160 million passengers annually.

By 2020, China will have 12,000 kms of express rail lines, with 16 new express passenger rail lines put into place, linking provincial capitals and large and medium-sized cities, as well as cities in the booming Bohai Sea, Yangtze and Pearl River regions.

The construction of such lines is aimed at substantially enhancing the country's rail transport capacities, as stated in the country's mid- and long-term plan on railway networks.

The 115 km express rail line connecting Beijing and Tianjin will become the country's first to allow a maximum speed of 300 kilometers per hour. Track laying on the route started in November.

The line will be ready for operation in time for the 2008 Olympic Games in August, and will shorten the journey between Tianjin and Beijing from 70 minutes to around 30 minutes, according to Liu Rong, director of the railway construction project.

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