The long-awaited high-speed Beijing to Shanghai railway is expected to get the green light this year.

"The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is reviewing the feasibility report of the project," Lang Guoping, deputy head of the preparation team with the Beijing-Shanghai passenger line company, said on the sidelines of the fifth session of the National People's Congress (NPC) yesterday.

"It will get approved sooner or later this year."

Once completed, trains on the express railway will reach speeds exceeding 350 kilometers per hour, shortening the nine-hour trip to five hours.

Railways Minister Liu Zhijun earlier said the State Council had agreed to allow insurers to invest in the project.

The new Beijing-Shanghai line will run 1,318 kilometers alongside the current route, which will be converted for cargo use.

Lang, an NPC deputy, said the railway would service intercity commuters for the next 100 years.

More than 80 percent of the high-speed trains would be manufactured in China and only 10 to 15 percent of trains would be imported, Lang said.

China has set up joint ventures with Siemens of Germany, Alsthom of France, Bombardier of Canada and Kawasaki Machinery Industrial Co of Japan to produce the trains.

Early reports said that construction of the express railway, which was supposed to start last year, was delayed because the original budget underestimated the cost of construction by more than 50 percent.

Lang dismissed such reports, saying that "there is no problem with construction funds", but he didn't elaborate.

The trains now in service between China's two largest municipalities have speeds between 140 and 160 kilometers per hour.

The new Beijing-Shanghai line project, the biggest investment in China's mid-and long-term railway development plan, was estimated to cost about 200 billion yuan ($25 billion).

In addition to Shanghai and Beijing, the new line, which will have 21 possible stops, and will also serve Tianjin, a municipality in North China, and Hebei, Shandong, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces.

About a quarter of the nation's citizens live along the existing rail link between Shanghai and Beijing.

China Daily-Xinhua

(China Daily 03/13/2007 page6)