GUANGSHEN Railway Co., the largest rail operator in affluent southern China, hopes to get a much delayed mainland listing back on track this year, raising more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion) to bankroll an expansion plan, a senior executive said Wednesday.

Guangshen Railway, whose fund-raising ambitions come as coal transport specialist Daqin Railway Co. pursues a 15 billion yuan initial public offering, hopes to price its offer at 15 to 20 times earnings, a company executive close to the deal said.

Guangshen Railway is eager to amass funds to expand. In May, it unveiled a plan to spend US$600 million expanding the capacity of a high-speed passenger link between Guangzhou and Shenzhen, two of the nation's wealthiest cities.

Domestic railway operators are expanding at a rapid clip, encouraged by the government's ambitious plan to alleviate endemic congestion on transport arteries, and booming domestic travel spurred by increasing wealth.

Sustained economic expansion has fomented bottlenecks that at times threaten to choke growth. Northeastern grains are far from southern feedmills, coal piles up in Shanxi, and remote mills struggle to get iron ore in from the coast and steel out to the cities.

Now, Guangshen Railway hopes to use funds raised to buy some 300 kilometers of passenger and cargo track from its unlisted State parent on the main Beijing-Guangzhou route.

Valued at about 10.3 billion yuan, the assets would triple its network length to some 481 kilometers from the current152 kilometers.

"We're doing our utmost to get the share sale done this year. Our own senior management, the railway ministry, all are preparing," the executive said.

"We've been trying for two years, so we won't spare any effort in this."

But the executive warned that a bulging pipeline of IPO candidates might derail its plans.

The government allowed share flotations to resume in May after more than a year's hiatus, opening the floodgates for a long line of hopefuls waiting in the wings. A number of corporations have listed since, including the Bank of China.

Analysts say Daqin's strong reception would galvanize Guangshen's stock sale.

Guangshen, the only overseas-listed mainland railway firm, posted a net profit of 613 million yuan in 2005, a rise of just 8.1 percent.

It intends to spend some 2.58 billion yuan buying new railway cars.

"In an ideal situation, we would want to raise more than 10 billion yuan," the executive said.

"More conservatively, we expect to raise at least 8 to 9 billion yuan," the executive said.

Demand for new shares has proven strong partly because of the enforced suspension. Daqin drummed up demand for more than 70 times the amount of shares available to individual investors. The firm intends to buy cargo trains and expand capacity.

Editor: Yan