WORK will start this year on an intercity railway connecting Qingdao and Lianyungang via Rizhao, a conference was told Jan. 4.

    The express railway network in China would be further expanded this year to reach 13,000 km , said Liu Zhijun, minister of railways, at a national railway working conference.

    A total of 70 new railway projects would be launched this year. Fifteen of them are express railways and intercity railways including Beijing-Shenyang Express Railway, Beijing-Zhangjiakou-Hohhot Express Railway, Harbin-Jiamusi Express Railway, Hangzhou-Huangshan Express Railway, and Hainan West Ring Express Railway. Twenty-six are regional trunk railways and railways for coal transportation such as Shanghai-Nantong Railway, Xi’an-Yinchuan Railway, Qingdao-Rizhao-Lianyungang Railway, Korla-Golmud Railway, West Guangdong Costal Railway, and Jiujiang-Jingdezhen-Quzhou Railway.

    (Chen Ting, Qi Zhongxi)