The "China Star" is the fastest train china ever produced, capable of running at an hourly speed over 300 kilometers.

China's Ministry of Railways is inviting foreign companies to be consultants and supervisors for the contruction of high speed railways that will begin in 2005.

Altogether 16 foreign consultant companies have been invited by the Ministry of Railways to make bids for the service. They include four from each Britain and Germany, two from the United States and one from each Finland, France, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Netherlands.

The Chinese government has approved the building of 3,000 km of high speed railways, said Chinese Vice Minister of Railways Lu Dongfu.

The 3,000 km of tracks include railroads from Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, to Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province; Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, to Xi'an, capital of northwest Shaanxi Province; Beijing to Tianjin Municipality; Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, to Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province.

All the railways are for trains that run above 200 km per hour, but the track from Wuhan to Guangzhou and Zhengzhou to Xi'an will be for trains traveling at 300 km per hour.

Tracks from Wuhan to Guangzhou, Zhengzhou to Xi'an, and Beijing to Tianjin need foreign engineering consultant service. The track from Nanjing to Hefei needs foreign supervisor. The bidding will close at the end of January 2005.

According to the ministry's programme, China will build 10,000 km of new dedicated passenger railways and 2,000 km of high speed railways by 2020.

Several days ago, Tianjin Mayor Dai Xianglong said Beijing and Tianjin leaders have agreed to build a new railway which will take only half an hour to get commuters between the two cities.

Construction of the 14.3 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion) project is scheduled to start before June next year and begin operating in 2007.

Proposed inter-city transport links are considered to be a step towards regional economic integration, with predictions that the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will become the third polar of economic growth after the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas.

The National Development and Reform Commission, which is doing much of the groundwork for the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), says integrated development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will be included in the national strategy for the first time.

Meanwhile, integration of regional development in other areas will become a leading national strategy and the country will plan more high-speed railways and expressways to shorten distances between cities, said the commission.

By People's Daily Online