QINGDAO accelerated railway construction in 2010. Four of 10 key railway projects were already completed with the others either under construction or yet to start.

    The four projects are the Lancun-Yantai Railway reform, Huangdao Station expansion, Qingdao Railway Container Terminal and the Jiaozhou North Railway Station.

    The Lancun-Yantai Railway renovation was finished Aug. 30, transforming a total of 187 km costing 1.58 billion yuan (US$238m).

    The Qingdao section — about 65 km through Jiaozhou, Jimo and Laixi — cost about 550 million yuan.

    After the transformation, the line’s carrying capacity increased from 3,500 tons to 5,000 tons, and transport capacity increased from 50 million tons to 70 million tons. Speed increased from 80kmph to 120kmph.

    The Huangdao Station expansion project cost 350 million yuan and was finished in October 2010 connecting with Jiaohuang Railway.

    The load capacity increased 50 percent relieving stress on transportation of ore and coal.

    The Qingdao Railway Container Terminal, finished in September 2010, is one of the 18 national logistics centers planned by the Ministry of Railways. It cost 700 million yuan, and covers an area of 1.4 square kilometers.

    The total construction area of Jiaozhou North Railway Station is about 7,000 square meters costing 62 million yuan. It will open this month as a terminal for high-speed trains.

    The other three projects under construction are Qingrong Intercity Railway, Haiqing Railway and Qingdao North Railway Station.

    The Qingrong Intercity Rail link starts at Qingdao North Railway Station and ends at Rongcheng Station running through Licang, Chengyang, Jimo, Laixi, Yantai and Weihai.

    The total length of 300 km is costing about 38 billion yuan.

    The rail link will cut travel time from Qingdao to Weihai from 4.3 to 1.2 hours after it is completed in September 2013.

    The Haiqing Railway over 98 km and costing 3.4 billion yuan is expected to be finished in March 2012.

    The Qingdao North Railway Station is on Taiyuan Road in Licang District, covering an area of 63,000 square meters. There will be eight platforms and 18 railways in the station.

    Total investment is 4.6 billion yuan and it will be finished in March 2012. The city government is also planning three other projects on Qinglian Railway, Dongjiakou Port Railway and the Jiaoxin Railway electrification.

    (Chen Ting, Liu Fangbin)