Construction of a 300 km/h railway linking Nanjing and Hangzhou, two hub cities in east China's neighboring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, has been approved by the Ministry of Railways, according to sources with the Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Committee.

An official with the committee said that construction of the passenger railway will begin at the end of the year. It will be linked to the new Beijing-Shanghai railway when the construction is completed in 2010 and the speed will hit 300 km/h.

The travel time between any two of Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanjing will only be about one hour.

With a total investment of 20.3 billion yuan (approximately US$2.5 billion), 109 km of the 251-km long railway will run in Zhejiang.

The official noted that upon completion, the Nanjing-Hangzhou passenger rail route will become a main channel to north China and reduce the detour around Shanghai.

(Xinhua News Agency May 10, 2006)