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China's first cross-straits railway, from Guangdong Province to Hainan Island, will be finished and open to traffic on Dec. 28, 2002, said Du Huirong, vice general manager of the Guangdong-Hainan railway construction company.
The railway will link up the southern Guangdong Province on theChinese mainland and Hainan Island, which are separated by the Qiongzhou Strait.
The entire railway thoroughfare consists of a 139-kilometer Zhanjiang-Hai'an Railway in Guangdong Province, a 24-kilometer railway ferry service on the Qiongzhou Strait, and a 182-kilometerHaikou-Chahe Rail Line on Hainan Island.
The project has so far cost over four billion yuan (481 millionUS dollars). The Zhanjiang-Hai'an section was already finished on January 28 this year and the other parts will be completed by the end of this year, Du Huirong said.
The railway thoroughfare is jointly financed by the Chinese Ministry of Railways, Hainan Province and Guangdong Province for atotal of 4.5 billion yuan (about 542 million US dollars). It is listed as one of the major railway construction projects of the State's ninth five-year-plan (1996-2000).
Construction of the project began in August 1998 with approval from the State Council, China's highest governing body.
(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2002)
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