No specific timetable is now available for work to begin on the 1,320-km-long high-speed railway connecting China's capital with the country's economic hub of Shanghai, an official with the Ministry of Railways said on Wednesday.

The statement was a response to an earlier report carried by a Shanghai-based business newspaper saying that construction would likely start at the end of this year.

The MOR source added that no official data is available either for investment needed by the railroad project.

According to China Business News, the budget for the project has been revised up from the initial estimate of some 130 billion yuan (16.5 billion U.S. dollars) to more than 170 billion yuan (21.5 billion U.S. dollars). If another three independent projects are taken into account, the total investment will likely rise to approximately 200 billion yuan (25.3 billion U.S. dollars).

The revised cost estimate takes account of funds required for land appropriation.

A feasibility report on the railroad project is now awaiting approval, and preparations have entered the final stage, the newspaper said.

One of the three independent projects related to the high-speed railway, Dashengguan Yangtze River Bridge, is now under construction, with investment estimated at 4.8 billion yuan (607.6 million U.S. dollars). The bridge design includes six railtracks, two for the Beijing-Shanghai railroad, two for the Shanghai-Wuhan-Chengdu railway and two more for subway services in Nanjing, capital city of east China's Jiangsu Province, the newspaper added.

In general, the Ministry of Railways -- via its investment vehicle China Railway Construction Investment Co. -- takes a stake of at least 51 percent in railway construction projects in China, local governments along the route account for 20%, and the remaining 29 percent or so comes from the public.

This month the railway construction investment company will have talks with the governments of Hebei, Jiangsu, Shandong and Anhui provinces and Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai cities on jointly establishing a company to run the project, the newspaper revealed.

The insurance sector also intends to invest in the high-speed railway, with a possible input of 40 billion yuan (5.1 billion U.S. dollars), the paper said.

The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway will stretch 1,320 kilometers and trains will be designed to travel at speeds of 350 kilometers per hour. The project will shorten the travel time between the two cities from 14 hours to five hours. Construction will take five years.

Source: Xinhua