Northeastern China is speeding up construction of a number new railway lines including a high-speed link that will whip passengers to their destination at 300 kilometers an hour.

Construction of a passenger-only railway, linking Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province, and Dalian, a coastal city of Liaoning Province, is expected to begin this year, sources close to the railway project have disclosed.

Trains on the route are expected to make the 902-kilometer journey in just four hours and will reach speeds of 300 kilometers per hour.

Costing 82 billion yuan (US$10 billion), the railway will run through the central part of the northeast region from Harbin in the north to Dalian in the south via major cities such as Changchun and Shenyang. The railway will be completed in five years.

The existing Harbin-Dalian railway is the busiest railway in the northeast region, with train departs averaging every five to six minutes, said an official with the planning section of the Railway Administration of Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province.

Building a passenger-only railway between Harbin and Dalian is aimed at easing the pressure on the existing Harbin-Dalian railway and improving transport capacity of the railway, the official said.

An expert with the Liaoning Provincial Government development research center said that as major industries are concentrated in areas along the Harbin-Dalian railway, the operation of the passenger-only railway would not only increase cargo transport on the existing railway, but also bring new economic development opportunities to areas along the railway.

Three other railway projects are also in the works and they will link the existing 13 railways with the eastern part of the northeast region. Upon completion, the 16 sections will form a major railway artery. It will be 1,389 kilometers long and linked Mudanjiang, a city in Heilongjiang, in the north with Dalian via Tumen and Tonghua cities in Jilin Province, and Dandong and Zhuanghe cities in Liaoning.

Costing 12.7 billion yuan (US$1.58 billion), the east railway projects are scheduled to be completed and go into operation in 2008.

Meanwhile, construction of a train-ferry project, linking Dalian with Yantai, a coastal city of east China's Shandong Province, across the Bohai straits is also going on smoothly.

Currently, supporting railway and port infrastructure for the train-ferry route have been completed and the whole project is expected to be completed and go into trial operation in the second half of the year. Formal operation will start next year.

With a budget of 2.3 billion yuan (US$284 million), the train-ferry service is designed to accommodate trains, motor vehicles and passengers.

Currently passengers and cargo traveling from China's northeast region, to the Shandong Peninsula and the Yangtze River delta have to go through Tianjin, adding up to 1,000 kilometers to the journey.

The train-ferry service will improve travel efficiency, alleviate rail congestion and rejuvenate the industrial rust belt in northeast China, said professor Xiao Xingzhi with the Economic and Social Development Research Institute of the Dongbei (northeast China) Finance and Economics University.

(Xinhua News Agency March 15, 2006)