The Ministry of Railways (MOR) said in Beijing on Sunday that the world's longest high-speed rail line, connecting the capital and Shanghai, is nearing completion.

MOR spokesman Wang Yongping said 91 percent of the track length, or 1,203 km, has been completed. Remaining major tasks include bridges over the Huaihe and Yangtze rivers and the main terminal in Shanghai, he said. More than 110,000 workers are busy with the remainder of the project.

Trains will take less than five hours to make the run, which is now at least 11 hours.

The MOR has said it plans to have 120,000 km of rail lines in service by 2020, of which 16,000 km would be dedicated to only passenger services.

By the end of this year, China will have more than 79,000 km of rail lines. To meet the 2020 target will require about 5 trillion yuan (US$732 billion), the MOR said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2008)