On September 3, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) officially approved the proposal of the new Nanchang–Ganzhou railway project. Once the project is completed, a new Beijing–Kowloon line will be connected. Passengers from Hefei city, Anhui province, can then reach Shenzhen in six to seven hours.

Construction of the Nanchang–Ganzhou line is expected to start by the beginning of 2014. It lies parallel with the original Beijing–Kowloon line and will also reach Shenzhen in the future. After completion, the train from Nanchang city, Jiangxi province, can directly reach Shenzhen city within five hours.

The major project of the 'new' Beijing–Kowloon line in Anhui province is the Hefei–Anqing–Jiujiang passenger-special line, which has already been included into the national plan. The detailed plan for the line is still under investigation, but relevant departments hope to start construction within two to three years.

By completion, it will only take about one hour to travel from Hefei to Jiujiang, two hours from Hefei to Nanchang, and less than seven hours from Hefei to Shenzhen.

Edited by Michael Thai, Huang Pei