China is to build a new railway linking two important special economic zones on its east and south coasts next year, said sources with China International Engineering Consulting Corporation (CIECC).

The new railway project, which has just won approval from the expert panel of the CIECC, will stretch along China's southeast coast and connect Xiamen of Fujian Province and Shenzhen of Guangdong Province.

It will be launched next year after it is officially authorized by the National Development and Reform Commission.

The coastal railway, with an expected investment of 28 billion yuan (US$3.45 billion), will be 495 kilometers long, of which 124 km will be bridges and 139 km tunnels, said the sources.

The project is expected to be accomplished in 2009. By then, Xiamen will become a railway hub on China's booming east coast, linking the Yangtze and Pearl River Deltas, China's two biggest economic powerhouses.

At present, another important section of China's coastal railway tentacle, the railway linking Wenzhou of Zhejiang Province and Fuzhou, capital of Fujian, is now under construction.

Xiamen and Shenzhen are among the first four special economic zones designated by the state council in 1980.

(Xinhua News Agency October 17, 2005)