At the junction of Huai'an and Yangzhou cities, the last 700 meters of the railway track for the Lianyungang-Huai'an section of the Lianyungang-Huai'an-Yangzhou-Zhenjiang railway was laid on the morning of May 19, a milestone in opening the railway in parts by the end of this year.

At 305.2 kilometers long, the new railway line will have 16 stations and a design speed of 250 kilometers per hour. It is a national key infrastructure project, a major north-south railway artery for passengers in Jiangsu, and an auxiliary to the busy Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway. The railway line stretches about 82 kilometers in Huai'an, with Huai'an East and Lianshui stations.

The new railway will link the Shanghai-Nanjing intercity railway in the south and facilitate an access to the Jiaodong peninsula and the Bohai Economic Rim in the north. Cities in northern Jiangsu will have the seamless connection with metropolis like Shanghai and Nanjing when the railway opens.

According to the construction plan, the Lianyungang-Huai'an section will complete welding by mid-June, start tests in early September, and open by the end of December, when the east-to-west Xuzhou-Suqian-Huai'an-Yancheng high-speed railway also opens. In the future, it takes only more than three hours from Huai'an to Beijing, over two hours to Shanghai, and about one hour to Nanjing.

Source:jschina.com.cn