The railway transportation from Beijing to Shanghai will double its speed to 100 to 120 kilometers per hour, thanks to the completion of the Caolaoji railroad bridge, located in Benbu, east China's Anhui Province.

The project, at the beginning of this month, includes a railroad bridge measuring 1,679.74 meters, 6.2 km of rail bridge approach and related power, communication and signal projects.

An official of the Shanghai railroad bureau's Benbu Branch said Thursday it was the biggest and most pressing project in the reconstruction of the Beijing-Shanghai railway.

The transportation in the Caolaoji juncture area were unsatisfactory in the past few years, the official said, and the completion of the railroad bridge removed the bottleneck of railway transportation from Beijing to Shanghai.

A large-scale railway network for both passengers and cargo traffic was now formed within this area, which would contribute to the acceleration of rail transportation, the official said.

（Xinhua News Agency December 4, 2003）