Work Starts on New Inter-City Chinese Commuter Line

Work on a new high-speed inter-city passenger rail link between the Chinese cities of Nanjing and Shanghai is set to begin soon, railway officials have announced.

The project, estimated to cost CNY42.2bn (about US$5.78bn), has been approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, writes official news agency Xinhua.

The Ministry of Railways is set to provide the majority investment for the 3,000km railway, which will take four years to build and will accommodate trains travelling at speeds up to 250km/h.

The line will cut the trip between the two cities from two hours to one and a half hours.

In January this year, a ceremony was held to mark the start of construction of China's high-speed railway between Beijing and Shanghai.

Trains on the route are expected to run up to 350km/h, halving the current ten-hour travel time.

By Ozge Ibrahim