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Shandong railways aim at 'one hour inter-city circle'

By Li Anna (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-03-08 15:28

Yantai, Shandong province -- Inter-city light rails connecting Qingdao, Yantai, Weihai and Rongcheng in Shandong Peninsula are scheduled to get started before the end of this year.

The preliminary work has begun. Recently, deputies from Jinan Railway Administration and officials concerned in Qingdao, Yantai and Weihai held their first meeting in Yantai over the construction of the Qingdao-Rongcheng inter-city railroad.

According to Jinan Railway Station, the Feasibility Research Report of Qingdao-Rongcheng inter-city Railroad has been completed and submitted to the National Development and Reform Commission. Two reconnoiter teams from the Third Railway Survey & Design Institute have started geographic inspection.

The inter-city light rail is designed to be 295.53 km long with 17 stations. A non-stop train will run at 250 km/h, while the average speed will be 200 km/h if it stops at every station on the route. So it will only take one hour by the train from Qingdao to Yantai or Weihai.

According to the "Shandong Mid- and Long-term Development Program of Railway Construction from 2008 to 2015", 3,800 km railway will be built or rebuilt during that period, which is equivalent to the overall mileage built since 1949.

By then, Shandong Province will have 5,500 km of railways, and the "one-hour inter-city circle" will be realized on the peninsular.