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Beijing-Shanghai rail project approved
(chinadaily.com.cn/agencies)
Updated: 2006-03-13 17:38
China has given final approval for the much-anticipated high-speed rail
link between Beijing and Shanghai, welcoming foreign investment in the hugely
expensive project.
The State Council, or cabinet, gave the go-ahead to the colossal engineering
undertaking recently, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a
statement on its website.
The
maglev rail line in Shanghai.
[newsphoto/file] |
"It will help relieve the seriously strained train link between Beijing and
Shanghai," said the commission, the nation's top planning agency. "The time is
ripe for construction."
According to the statement, a special company will be established to oversee
the construction. It did not indicate when construction would start.
"We will actively explore various financing methods and attract private
capital as well as capital from legal persons and foreign investment," the
statement said.
The express railway, designed for speeds of up to 350 kilometers (220 miles)
per hour, will stretch over 1,320 kilometers, the statement said.
Earlier reports said the new line was expected to shorten travel time between
the two cities from 13 hours to less than five.
Last week, minister of railways Liu Zhijun said his
ministry had decided to use domestic technology instead of international
firms to construct the rail link. German, French and Japanese companies had vied
for the deal.
The 200-billion-yuan (24.7-billion-dollar) project was first proposed in 1994
and was originally supposed to be completed before the 2008 Olympics but
disputes over what technology to use delayed
construction.
Shanghai-Hangzhou maglev
approved
The commission also said that the State
Council has given the green light to a high-speed magnetic levitation train
line between the eastern cities of Shanghai and Hangzhou.
The National
Development and Reform Commission said on its Web site (www.ndrc.gov.cn) that
the maglev line would help ease transportation strains between the two cities.
A member of the National People's Congress said last week that the project
would cost 35 billion yuan ($4.3 billion) and use German technology that
levitates a train above a magnetic track, allowing it to speed at 430 km an hour
(270 mph), the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Transrapid, which groups ThyssenKrupp , Siemens A.G. and the German
government, already operates such a line in Shanghai.
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