First Electric Railway in Northeast China to Open to Traffic

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 ◆ First Electric Railway in Northeast China to Open to Traffic

The first electric railway in Northeast China, a 550-kilometer-long railway linking Harbin and Shenyang, capitals of Heilongjiang and Liaoning provinces, was completed Wednesday and will be open to traffic in mid August, Thursday's Economic Information Daily reports. The Harbin-Shenyang railway is a part of the electric railway that links Harbin and the coastal city of Dalian, a major infrastructure project to be completed in November this year. The Harbin-Dalian railway runs 949 kilometers and links 25 major cities in the three provinces of northeast China, Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning. Electrification of the railway, which involves a total investment of some 15 billion yuan (about US$ 1. 81 billion), is financed by the Chinese government and German loans. German technologies, equipment and mode of management have been employed to electrify the railway. Sources say the railway is designed to ease the bottleneck in northeast China and expand transportation capacity there. Once the railway opens to traffic, it will take less than 10 hours to travel from Harbin to Dalian by train.