The construction of a new railway started Monday in east China.

To link Jiaozhou City in Shandong Province with Xinyi City in Jiangsu Province, the new railway will be 306 kilometers long and form a convenient route for cargo transportation between northeastand east China.

The Jiaozhou-Xinyi railway will connect with a waterway in the north that links the coastal cities of Dalian and Yantai. The waterway, in turn, is connected to the Harbin-Dalian railway in northeast China. With a total investment of 4.83 billion yuan (about US$ 582 million), the railway will be completed in three years, and have an annual cargo transportation capacity of 16 million tons.

Meanwhile, the railway will constitute a backbone route linkingcoastal cities in east China, and greatly promote the economic development of neighboring areas.

( Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2001)