The Central Government had agreed to build two passenger railways linking Shenzhen with Shanghai and Beijing, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported Monday (Apr. 12).

Zhao Penglin, general engineer of the city's planning and land resources bureau, revealed recently that the two railways were included in China's railway network planning for medium and long term. A railway linking Wuhan, Guangzhou and Shenzhen is also included in the plan.

Both the Shanghai-Shenzhen and Beijing-Shenzhen railways would pass Guangzhou, said Zhao. The Shanghai-Shenzhen railway would also pass Ningbo, Wenzhou, and Xiamen cities, he said. Construction of the Xiamen-Shenzhen section would start in 2010, at an estimated cost of 25 billion yuan (US$3 billion), he said.

Meanwhile, a new railway station would be built in Longhua to deal with the passenger and railway traffic increases, said Zhao.

In another development, the first train for the Shenzhen Metro had been completed in Germany and would arrive in the city at the end of this month, Hu Jianping, deputy manager of the city's subway company said.

Construction on Line 3 of the Shenzhen Metro is expected to begin at the end of this year. The 10-billion-yuan (US$1.2 billion) project will link the special economic zone with Buji, Henggang and Longgang.

Editor: Donald