China Starts Expansion of Rail Network Built to Spur Yangze River Delta Development
Jin Yezi
DATE:  Dec 16 2019
/ SOURCE:  yicai
China Starts Expansion of Rail Network Built to Spur Yangze River Delta Development China Starts Expansion of Rail Network Built to Spur Yangze River Delta Development

(Yicai Global) Dec. 16 -- Construction work on the second phase of the Shanghai-Nantong Railway began yesterday as China looks to accelerate development of the Yangtze River Delta region, one of the country's most developed areas.

The project should complete in five years and link Situan, near Shanghai's Lingang New Area, and Taicang in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, a source at the Shanghai Railway Bureau told Yicai Global.

The 111.8 kilometer track, with six stations and a design speed of 200 kilometers per hour, will improve freight and passenger transport between Shanghai and Jiangsu, enhance cargo distribution capacity in Shanghai's Pudong New Area, and aid development of Lingang, he added.

The Yangtze River Delta Region made up almost a quarter of the national economy last year, with its constituents Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui combining for a gross domestic product of CNY2.1 trillion (USD300 billion).

The area is also responsible for about 20 percent of Chinese passenger transport, having sold about 700 million tickets this year as of Dec. 13, despite making up just 8 percent of the country's tracks by length, the source added. Travelers in the region can visit almost any city in the region in just three hours by rail.

By the end of 2020, the Yangtze River Delta will have 13,000 kilometer of railroads, with more than 5,300 able to support high-speed trains, according to the source. Alongside other inter-city and municipal rails, the region will have a transit network capable of supporting social and economic development needs in the area, he added.

The first phase of the Shanghai-Nantong Railway should open in June 2020, after construction began in 2014. The 137.3 kilometer line links Nantong, Jiangsu to Anting, an automotive manufacturing hub in Shanghai.

Editors: Dou Shicong, James Boynton

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Keywords:   Shanghai,Jiangsu,Yangtze River Delta