The new Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway may seek to get listed on one of the Chinese mainland's stock markets to raise funds, the minister of railways said yesterday.

The Railway Ministry also welcomed all kinds of investors to join the country's railway reforms, including private companies and foreign joint ventures, Liu Zhijun, the minister, said, Labor Daily reported today.

China plans to invest 300 billion yuan (US$42.19 billion) this year on railway construction. The ministry has already opened a project list to investors and it will likely be released to the public soon, Liu added.

Construction on the 220-billion-yuan Shanghai-Beijing rail link is scheduled for completion by 2013, the report said.

Trains will travel at up to 350 kilometers per hour on the 1,318-kilometer railway and will cut traveling time between Shanghai and the capital from 12 hours to less than five.

Twenty-one stations will be established along the route, according to an earlier notice from the ministry.

China set up a company to lead construction of the Shanghai-Beijing railway on December 27, according to previous reports.

The company's shareholders include the Ministry of Railways, China Railway Construction Investment Company, the National Council for Social Security Fund, Ping An Asset Management Co Ltd and Shanghai Shentie Investment Co.

The Ministry of Railways will fund 78.9 percent of the project while the other investors will provide the remaining.

Construction on Luocen Railway, which connects Luoding City in Guangdong Province and Cenxi City in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, started on December 18, 2006.

Luocen Railway is the Chinese mainland's first rail link that has been partly funded by private investors, the report said.

(Shanghai Daily March 7, 2008)