Construction of the city's third railway station, its largest in terms of daily passenger flow, will begin this year, the authorities have said.

The new station will be built near Shanghai's Hongqiao International Airport, which mainly serves domestic flights, and function as a terminal for fast-passenger trains.

At least four lines connecting the city with Beijing, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Nantong will start from this new station, the Shanghai Morning Post reported over the weekend.

The trains, with a maximum speed of 300 km an hour, will operate at short intervals - three minutes during peak hours for trains from Shanghai to Nanjing - 24 hours a day and stop at most cities on the way.

Upon completion of the station, a trip from Shanghai to Beijing will be shortened from 11 hours to five hours, while a trip from Shanghai to Nanjing will be 72 minutes and one from Shanghai to Hangzhou, 50 minutes.

There will be no sleeping berths on the trains.

The station is aimed at relieving traffic between Shanghai and Beijing, and in the economic powerhouse that is the Yangtze River Delta region, which contributes about 22 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

It will especially lighten the burden of chunyun, during which a large number of passengers flock to their hometowns for Spring Festival, officials said.

Millions of travelers were stranded in the recent blizzards that hit the central and southern regions during the latest Spring Festival holiday period.

Tracks between Shanghai and Beijing are planned for completion by 2013.

The new station is expected to see a daily passenger flow of 200,000 - the highest of the three stations in Shanghai.

The other two are the Shanghai Railway Station, which serves most long distance travelers, and Shanghai South Railway Station, for trains mainly to the south.

The two stations currently send off 190,000 passengers a day.

The third station is also expected to serve the Shanghai-Beijing high-speed rail.

(China Daily March 18, 2008)