The Ministry of Railways (MOR) vows to begin work on the high-speed rail link between Beijing and Shanghai this year, said the Minister of Railways on Wednesday.

Construction will be completed in 2010, said Liu Zhijun at the annual national railway work conference.

The railway has been approved by the State Council and construction will be launched soon, according to the MOR.

The design of a train capable of driving multiple sleepers at 200 kilometers per hour -- and hitting maximum speeds of 300 kms per hour -- will be completed this year and the trains will go into production, according to the MOR.

The MOR had planned to begin construction in 2006 and have high-speed trains running by 2010.

A report by the China Business Times last week said that work on the railway appears to have been delayed because the original budget underestimated the cost of construction by more than 50 percent.

Originally expected to require an investment of 130 billion yuan (16.6 billion U.S. dollars), the Shanghai-Beijing Express Railway is now expected to cost 200 billion yuan (25.64 billion U.S. dollars), reported the newspaper.

According to the ministry, trains on the Beijing-Shanghai Express Railway will reach speeds of up to 350 kilometers per hour, shortening the nine-hour trip to five hours.

The trains now in service between China's two largest cities have a speed limit of between 140 and 160 kilometers per hour.

Source: Xinhua