Construction of two railways in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality will start this year, according to a senior municipal official.

Ma Xulin, vice-director of the city's economy committee, said that one of the two railways will run from Suining City in Sichuan Province to Chongqing, and the other from Wanzhou District in Chongqing to Yichang City in central China's Hubei Province. The two projects have been ratified by relevant departments.

The Suining-Chongqing line will be 160 kilometers long, cost six billion yuan (about US$ 722 million) and have a designed speed of between 140 and 160 kilometers per hour. It will help reduce the journey between Chongqing and Chengdu to less than four hours.

The Wanzhou-Yichang line is designed to be 300 kilometers long,with an investment of 16 billion yuan.

( People's Daily April 4, 2002)