China to build Beijing-Fujian railway

China plans to build a railway connecting Beijing with the southeastern province of Fujian, in a bid to promote the economic development of the coastal region close to Taiwan.

The planned railway, with designed speed at 300 kms per hour, will start from Bengbu city in eastern Anhui Province and end in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province.

Construction is scheduled to start in 2010, under a memo inked by the Ministry of Railways and the Fujian Provincial People's Government in Beijing during the ongoing parliamentary session.

China intends to build 4,800 kms railway along the western coast of the Taiwan Straits in the following 5 to 10 years, and the Beijing-Fujian railway is just part of it.

In addition, Fujian has started to build a new economic zone to accelerate cross-Straits economic ties.