Vice premier Zeng Peiyan has been appointed to head a team
to supervise the construction of a high-speed railway between
Beijing and Shanghai, the China News Service reported today.
The team will review proposed plans, oversee the construction
process, coordinate with ministerial and regional authorities and
collect information about the railway project, the report said.
The high-speed rail link will more than halve the travel time
between Shanghai and the capital from 12 hours to less than five
hours when it is completed. Trains will be able to reach a speed of
up to 350 kilometers an hour on the 200 billion yuan (US$26.67
billion) track.
Construction of the 1,318-kilometer railway is scheduled to
start in December. Twenty-one stations will be set up along the
line, according to an earlier notice from the Railway Ministry.
The project is the biggest investment in the country's long-term
railway development. It has attracted some of the world's largest
magnates in railway technology to vie for part of the project,
including France's Alstom, Canada's Bombadier, Japan's Kawasaki
Heavy Industries and Germany's Siemens.
The Shanghai terminal of the new railway will be built in an
area near Hongqiao International Airport.
(Shanghai Daily October 30, 2007)