China Railway Group Ltd. (CRG, SHSE: 601390; SEHK: 00390) announced on March 14 that the company recently won bids of or sign contracts of 8 key projects totalling approximately CNY 33.146 billion, 7.01% of CRG's operating revenue in 2010 according to Chinese accounting standards.

Of the 8 projects, CRG won bid for a project in Shenzhen with contracted price being roughly CNY 25.55 billion. China Railway First Group Co., Ltd., a subsidiary under CRG, won bid of Dazhun-Shuohuang railway link project with contracted price being CNY 1.41642 billion. CRG itself obtained general contract on construction of Guanlan Anju commodity house project (build-transfer model) with contracted price amounting to CNY 1.4 billion.
China Overseas Engineering Group Co., Ltd. (COVEC), a subsidiary under CRG, concluded a USD 213 million contract with Papua New Guinea government on a highway maintenance project. China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group Co., Ltd., a subsidiary under CRG signed a USD 166.8 million contract with a company in Angola. A consortium, consisting of China Major Bridge Engineering Co., Ltd. (MBEC) and China Railway Construction Engineering Group, two subsidiaries under CRG won bid of a Tanzania project with contracted price being USD 133.1 million.

China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group Co., Ltd. won bid of a project in Ningbo, with contracted price being CNY 809.64 million. China Railway No. 9 Group Co., Ltd. won bid of a project in Shenyang City, with contracted price being around CNY 725.24 million.
 

Wenzhou, a manufacturing hub in East China's Zhejiang Province, is considering building China's first hanging railway in a bid to ease traffic congestion and promote low-carbon transportation.

The hanging railway is a suspended, automated monorail system, which can travel silently at speeds up to 50 kilometers per hour. The technology was initially developed in Germany in 1901.

Feng Xingyun, a member of the CPPCC, has submitted a proposal to the two sessions calling for the establishment of hanging railway in Chinese cities.

Several other cities including Tianjin and Shanghai are likely to follow suit after Wenzhou's pioneering move, according to the Legal Mirror.

Compared with other public transportation, the electrically powered hanging railway possesses advantages in terms of cost and its impact on the environment.

Given that one compartment can carry up to 75 passengers, a four-compartment hanging train can transport as many as 30,000 passengers in an hour.

Wang Mengshu, a railway expert with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, who is also a deputy to the NPC, told the Global Times yesterday that the hanging railway should be taken into consideration by the urban traffic authority because of its safety, environmental-friendly characteristics, and low-cost construction.

According to Wang, the cost for one kilometer of subway line might reach 500 million yuan ($79 million) to 700 million yuan, while the construction of a hanging railway of the same length cost just 100 million to 150 million yuan.

"Not only would construction costs be cheaper, but the cost of operation is cheaper as well," Wang said.

"The subway is a permanent construction that can hardly be changed or demolished, but a hanging railway could easily be removed or reinstalled in other places," he added.

Some Web users voiced their opinions about possible safety concerns over the hanging railway, over potential accidents or the possibility of the trains falling off the lines.

Wang said that since the construction of hanging railways began worldwide, no accidents have occurred.

However, the passenger load might be a problem that constraints its development in a metropolis.

"One compartment of a hanging railway, which is as big as a bus, can only carry 50 to 70 passengers, which makes it more suitable for medium cities than huge cities," Wang said.

The official microblog of the Research Office of the Wenzhou government launched a poll yesterday to collect opinions about the hanging railway project in Wenzhou.

By press time, 75.3 percent of a total 251 respondents agreed with the project, while another 18.7 percent said they disagreed.
 

China's first domestically designed light rail train has been put into operation in Europe, marking a significant achievement for its manufacturer CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co., Ltd., Chinanews.com reports.

The company designed the trains for Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey, which has a light rail line that goes through crowded areas with many sharp curves. The first train began operating last Thursday.

Wang Jinsheng, project manager of CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co., Ltd, said 32 Chinese-designed light rail trains would be put into service in the city to ease high traffic congestion.

BEIJING, March 15 — Chinese officials have insisted that the country’s massive high-speed rail programme will continue, despite fears over the safety of the multibillion-dollar system.

A contender to be recognised as one of the greatest building achievements of the 21st century, China’s high-speed rail network is planned to cover an estimated 10,000km by the time it’s completed, slashing journey times between China’s major cities.

The system was slowed last year after a fatal crash and accidents such as the recent track collapse in Qianjiang city continue to dog the programme, but that hasn’t halted plans to step up construction.

Last week, officials Beijing reaffirmed that development of its key rail projects will continue, noting that “the country’s achievements in train transportation should not be overlooked despite some high-profile mistakes”, reported Xinhua.

In 2011, the system welcomed almost double the number of passengers in 2010, the government revealed.

Despite the safety concerns, the growth in rail connections is proving a popular bonus for the rapidly-growing number of tourists, who can now get between destinations at a lower cost and with fewer delays than with a flight.

Stuart Whittington, a spokesperson for Britain-based Chinese vacation specialist Wendy Wu Tours, recently told Relaxnews that the company received many enquiries from customers hoping to use the new rail routes.

“British travellers love train travel and the rapid expansion of China’s rail network has allowed us to utilise these new routes,” he said.

“One popular private tour is the China Express tour that utilises the new bullet train service from Shanghai to Beijing. Travelling at a maximum speed of nearly 200 miles per hour (322km/h), this new route allows visitors to complete the 800 mile (1,290km) journey in less than five hours.”

Last week, Hong-Kong based tour operator Window-Discovery Tours Ltd told Relaxnews “for individual travellers this is a great and cheap option that opens up places in China that were once almost impossible for tourists to get to.” — AFP-Relaxnews

Part of a high-speed railway line collapsed in central China following heavy rains, state media re-ported, jolting railroad shares and reviving worries over safety.

About seven kilometres of track were being removed after it sank at points where the line runs across a floodplain, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday. Initially the agency reported that only 300 metres of track had been affected by the collapse Friday near Qianjiang city in Hubei province. The railway line is due to open in May.

"We discovered the problem during the evaluation phase, and invited experts to reinforce the rails," it quoted Wang Zujian, a director for Hubei’s provincial railway construction bureau, as saying.

Reports of the collapse along the line between the Yangtze River cities of Wuhan and Yichang mentioned no casualties. Hundreds of workers were rushing to repair the line, residents and reports said.

The collapse, the latest high profile problem since a bullet-train crash last summer that killed 40 people, rattled share markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai, where major railway company stocks dropped on the news.

China has massive resources and considerable prestige invested in its showcase high-speed railways program, and the news appeared to raise sensitivities over the issue. A local government website initially ran an article denying that any collapse had occurred.

"It is not clear that either the design or the construction should be blamed," Xinhua quoted Sun Shengjie, deputy general manager of the China Railway 12th Bureau Group, responsible for building the line, as saying.

Officials in the Railway 12th Bureau Group offices and the Hubei Province and Qianjiang city information offices were not available for comment. The Railways Ministry did not immediately respond to inquiries by phone and fax.

China has 13 high-speed railways in operation, with 26 under construction and 23 more planned. Much of the system, similar to that in Japan, is built on elevated tracks.

Engineers working on some projects have complained of problems with contractors using inferior concrete or inadequate steel support bars. A report last week by the state-run magazine Time Weekly reported allegations that builders on another section of the same Wuhan-Yichang line may have compromised safety by substituting soil for rocks in the railway bed.

Authorities slowed expansion of the multibillion-dollar bullet train system following the July 23 crash near Wenzhou, in southeastern China. It was triggered by a lightning strike, though a government probe also blamed faulty signal systems and missteps by train operators.

Since the Wenzhou crash, there have been reports of problems with brakes, signalling systems and faulty construction. In one case the Railways Ministry ordered almost all of a $260-million railway line in northeastern China redone after finding contractors had farmed the work out to unqualified construction companies that filled railway bridges’ foundations with rocks and sand instead of concrete.

A report by World Bank experts issued last week lauded China’s success in rapidly expanding the system, which is due to grow to 16,000 kilometres of track by 2020 from 6,000 kilometres as of last year.
 

CHINA has injected US$66.2 million (K344 billion) in Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) to rehabilitate infrastructure and revamp operations.

The money would be given in form of a grant amounting to $23.5 million (K123 billion) for the rehabilitation of the railway line and related infrastructure while $42.6 million (K223 billion) would be an interest-free loan to revive the operations.

The Chinese-constructed firm jointly owned by Zambia and Tanzania has recently been faced with operational problems between Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia and Dar-es-Salaam in the neighbouring Tanzania.

Transport, Works, Supply and Communications Minister Yamfwa Mukanga confirmed to the Times yesterday that the Chinese government had offered to fund the railway firm.

The offer would be concluded at a tripartite meeting to be held on March 26, this year.

The minister said the tripartite meeting involving Zambia, Tanzania and China would discuss, among other issues, TAZARA's financial problems and the revival of its operations.

Mr Mukanga said the special grant and loan agreement were expected to be sealed during the tripartite meeting under the 15th protocol of the TAZARA Financial and Technical cooperation.

Last week, more than 1, 600 Tazara workers in Tanzania downed tools to press management and Government to find a permanent solution to financial problems.

Management was prompted to suspend the passenger train service and directed that the passenger train from Zambia on Tuesday to Dar-es-Salaam be stopped at Nakonde until the situation in Tanzania normalised

General secretary for TAZARA Workers Union in Tanzania, Erasto Kihwele and General Secretary for the Workers Union of TAZARA in Zambia, Africa M'kandawire had insisted that the firm should suspend passenger train services and concentrate on cargo transportation.

Mr Mukanga appealed to TAZARA workers to remain patient while the two holding governments were looking at ways of addressing the problems.

"We know that the employees have suffered for a long time and that a lot of things have not been going well at the company but they should be patient," he said.

He said that the two governments were interested in seeing TAZARA become self-sustaining and not always depending on "handouts" from donors to finance its operations.

The minister said the K45 billion which the Zambian Government had recently given the firm would not be the last allocation.He said the Tanzanian government had also committed itself to liquidating the debt owed to retirees.

The railway company which had for a long time been faced with a number of challenges is in need of more than $700 million.Challenges include unpaid statutory contributions to National Pensions Scheme Authority and unpaid retirement benefits.

HONG KONG, March 12 (Reuters) - Hong Kong and China shares drifted lower at midday on Monday, as weak financial and consumer stocks dragged benchmark indices further below technical resistance ahead of a slew of corporate earnings from Chinese companies this week.

The Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.4 percent at midday, moving further away from 2,440, technical resistance it tested on Friday. The China Enterprises Index of the top mainland lsitings in Hong Kong closed down 0.3 percent.

The broader Hang Seng Index was also down 0.3 percent, moving further below 21,200, a level it briefly tested on Friday. Midday turnover in Hong Kong was also at its lowest since Jan. 16.

"The scope for gains in the market seems rather limited in the near term with the liquidity flows that drove the rally in the first two months now markedly absent," said Edward Huang, an equity strategist with Haitong International Securities.

HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's largest bank and the biggest-weighted Hang Seng Index component, slipped 0.9 percent and was the benchmark's top drag. It is currently at HK$67.75, holding above technical support seen at HK$67.70.

Investors took profits on China consumer names that outperformed last week. Belle International and Want Want China lost 3.4 and 2.2 percent respectively and were the top percentage losers among Hang Seng Index components.

Belle had surged 10.3 percent last week, while Want Want jumped 8.8 percent in the first four days last week after posting 2011 earnings that bettered expectations, triggering a series of brokerage upgrades.

CHINA RAILWAY, PROPERTY WEAK

Shares of Chinese rail companies stocks suffered after mainland media reported a section of a new high-speed railway in central China's Hubei province collapsed after persistent rain, renewing safety-related fears on the sector.

In Hong Kong, China Rail Construction Corporation Ltd slumped 7 percent. China Railway Group Limited dived 5.7 percent, while CSR Corp 0390. lost 3.9 percent.

This also hit Chinese developers hard in the mainland with high-speed railway seen as a crucial driver of demand and growth for property in frontier cities and towns.

Also hurting was the Chinese central bank governor's comments that any cuts in reserve requirements for commercial banks are not aimed at boosting the stock market or the property sector.

The Shanghai property sub-index was a standout underperformer among sectors, down 2 percent. Poly Real Estate was among the top drags on the Shanghai Composite, down 3.7 percent.

Shenzhen-listed China Vanke, the mainland's largest developer by sales and scheduled to post its earnings report for 2011 later on Monday, shed 3 percent. (Additional reporting by Vikram Subhedar; Editing by Ron Popeski)
 

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights.

China’s high-speed rail ambitions are under fresh scrutiny after a newly built track collapsed in heavy rains.

Workers on Tuesday were scrambling to fix more than 7km of a line that sank in a flood-prone part of central Hubei province. Initial reports had said that the collapse only affected a 300m stretch.

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights.

The water damage was the latest in a string of problems to have hit China’s high-speed rail programme, once a source of national pride, over the past year. Concerns that quality had been sacrificed in the country’s rush to build up its rail network were tragically highlighted when a bullet train crash killed 40 people last July.

Since then the government has cut the running speed of trains and also scaled back its investment in new lines.

The share prices of China’s leading railway construction companies and train manufacturers fell sharply on Monday when the collapse was first reported, but recovered some ground on Tuesday after analysts said that the accident was unlikely to alter Beijing’s already scaled-back investment plans.

China has said it will invest Rmb400bn ($63bn) in railway construction this year, down from Rmb469bn in 2011 and well down from a peak of Rmb700bn in 2010. China’s first high-speed train only went into operation in 2007, but by last year it had built up the world’s biggest bullet train network with 10,000km of tracks.

With several major new lines still under construction, the government has been working to restore public confidence in its plans and passengers have returned in droves in recent months.

Local officials in Hubei tried to calm concerns after the latest incident, saying that the track had collapsed because of geology, not construction quality. But they also said that inspection teams had certified the track as safe before the accident and that they had conducted test runs.

Wang Zujian, a director of the provincial railway construction bureau, told the official Xinhua news agency that investigations after the accident found evidence of subsidence along more than 7km of the line. Workers were now reinforcing the elevated track bed, he added.

The first sign of serious trouble in China’s high-speed rail programme came early last year, before the fatal crash, when the railway minister, Liu Zhijun, was dismissed in a corruption investigation.

A cabinet-level report in December said that there had been rampant mismanagement in the country’s railway industry. It called for a “complete upgrade” of safety standards, especially in the construction and operation of bullet trains.
 

Out of 202 railway coaches 55 have arrived in Pakistan while remaining 147 would be prepared in Islamabad Carriage Factory with the help of Chinese engineers under an agreement of Rs17 billion.

Out of 202 railway coaches 55 have arrived in Pakistan while remaining 147 would be prepared in Islamabad Carriage Factory with the help of Chinese engineers under an agreement of Rs17 billion.

A Railways official told that coaches would be attached with trains after completion of testing. Among 55 coaches, 12 are airconditioned business class, one AC sleeper, 31 economy class, five power vans, four brake vans and two are dining cars. The coaches are prepared on modern techniques and are equipped with almost every facility. The officers believed that coaches certainly would help to improve Railways operational efficiency.

China was expected to start delivery of railway coaches to PR from September 2011 but process was delayed due to unknown reasons. Railways delegations had repeatedly visited neighbour country to study production, quality, design, painting, mechanical and operational aspects. Chinese firm Changchun Railway Company is providing the coaches to Pakistan Railways.

Israel is planning a train link between its Red Sea and Mediterranean ports intended to serve as an overland alternative to the Suez Canal and to spur increased trade from China, India and other Asian countries.

The cabinet approved on Feb. 5 a 350-kilometer (218-mile) line to link the city of Eilat, Israel’s sole Asian-waters port, to the existing rail system, connecting to the Ashdod port. The project may start as early as this year.

To Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the link is a means to increase trade with the expanding economies of Asia, reducing dependence on Israel’s traditional export markets in Europe and the U.S. and transforming Israel into a Middle East trading hub. The premier says having an overland cargo route to the Mediterranean will boost the country’s value as a strategic partner to China and India and would be “useful” in case “problems” arose with the Suez Canal.

“How can we get the great Asian economies interested?” Netanyahu asked during an interview with Bloomberg News in Tel Aviv on Feb. 20. “We can build a train line from the Red Sea to Ashdod to link Asia and Europe.” The project “will help open up markets.”

Israeli officials in recent discussions with Chinese and Indian counterparts have raised the possibility of companies from there taking part in building and operating the estimated 8.6 billion shekel ($2.3 billion) project, expected by the government to take five years once construction gets under way.

Chemical Exports
The government estimates the rail link will multiply cargo traffic at the Eilat port, which primarily handles chemical exports to, and merchandise imports from, Asian markets. According to a Ministry of Transport study, chemical exports from Eilat that totaled 2.4 million tons in 2008 may rise to as much as 5.4 million tons in 2020. Shipping containers could increase from 2,000 20-foot containers, or TEU, to 210,000 TEU.

The government is selling the port to private owners and expects to complete the process this year. Five companies -- Maman Cargo Terminals and Handling Ltd., Gadot Chemicals Tankers and Terminals Ltd. (GDTN), Papo Maritime Ltd., Mifalei Tovala Ltd. and Gold Bond Group Ltd. (GOLD) -- have reached an advanced stage in the sale, the Finance Ministry announced on Feb. 21. In two months, after the government works out provisions to safeguard the interests of port workers, the contenders can submit bids.

Mifalei Tovala is a subsidiary of publicly traded Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL), which extracts minerals from the Dead Sea to make potash and fertilizers. Acquiring the port may help it contain labor actions and other contingencies that have sometimes delayed its exports to Asia, said Joseph Wolf, an equity analyst at Barclays Capital in Tel Aviv.

Sustaining Edge
“One of Israel Chemicals’ biggest advantages over their rivals is their time-to-market shipping to India and China,” Wolf said in a phone interview. “Controlling transportation and making sure that edge is sustained is an important part of their strategy.”

Israel Chemicals shares are down 0.8 percent this year in Tel Aviv; Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, is up 5.8 percent in New York trading over the same period.

Linking Eilat by rail to Ashdod, along a route used in ancient times by caravans bringing spices and incense from Arabia and India to Europe, has been contemplated for decades. It was first promoted by Netanyahu while he was finance minister in 2003. He revived the idea after becoming prime minister in 2009 as part of a nationwide rail development program.

Southern Negev
For Israel, the link isn’t just an economic investment. Netanyahu has stressed its importance in spurring development of the country’s southern Negev desert and possibly strengthening relations with Jordan. Its Aqaba port sits adjacent to Eilat and could also be connected to a Mediterranean rail link.

“There is no reason it can’t be an Eilat-Aqaba-Ashdod line,” Netanyahu told parliament last March. “This will advance prosperity, stability and peace in the region.”

The total amount of cargo loaded and unloaded at Eilat in the first three quarters of 2011 was 1.6 million tons. At Ashdod it was 14.4 million tons, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.

Those amounts pale next to the Suez Canal, used to carry about 8 percent of global annual seaborne trade. In January alone, 81.5 million net tons passed through the Egypt-controlled waterway.

The canal has remained open during the past year of political upheaval, which forced the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. It was closed for four months in 1956- 1957 as Egypt and Israel fought the Sinai War. It shut again for eight years after the 1967 War as Egyptian and Israeli forces occasionally fired at each other from positions on either bank.

‘Second Option’
“It’s always important in terms of risk management to have a second option,” said Philip Damas, director of liner shipping at Drewry Shipping Consultant Ltd. in London. “In terms of cost, between having the cargo delivered by rail to a Mediterranean port of Israel, as compared to having it go all the way by ship, I’m a little skeptical of it being competitive.”

The Ministry of Transportation has issued a non-binding “Request for Information” packet outlining the project. Last year more than 80 interested bodies, including Siemens AG (SIE), Alstom SA (ALO), Samsung Engineering Co Ltd. (028050) and Veolia Transportation Inc., asked for it, the ministry said.

“It is important for China and India to have another route of connection for their exports to Europe in addition to the Suez Canal,” Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told Bloomberg News during a visit to Beijing on Feb. 29.

‘Extra Insurance’
The Eilat-Ashdod port link will be “extra insurance” for Asian exporters in uncertain times and during periods of crowding in the Suez Canal, Steinitz said, adding that initial discussions have started with Chinese officials on possible participation in the project. The China Civil Engineering Construction Corp. (BCALAZ) is already involved in building another rail line in Israel to connect the cities of Haifa and Karmiel.

India is interested in participating in the building of the link, said an official at the Ministry of External Affairs who declined to allow his name to be used as is standard practice in his ministry. Discussions have taken place, he said.

“Once this project is formed and the road map is clear, Indian companies will evaluate their participation, but I do see good Indian interest in this,” Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath told The Hindu Daily on Feb. 14, after discussing it with Trade Minister Israel Katz during a visit to Israel.

In addition to boosting Israel’s economic and strategic standing, the link will be “useful in case there are queues or lines or other problems with the sea route of the Suez Canal,” Netanyahu said in a Jerusalem speech on Feb. 19. “We will connect Eilat to Ashdod and Eilat to Tel Aviv and this changes Israel.”
 

CHINA - China will launch nine new lines for bullet trains by the end of this year, indicating that the country will not change its plans for railways in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) despite a fatal bullet train crash in July, a railway official said on Monday.

Huang Qiang, chief researcher of the China Academy of Railway Sciences and a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, added that the country will welcome overseas and private investment to overcome a lack of funding.

Some high-speed train projects were stalled last year because of a budget shortfall of 500 billion yuan (S$100 billion) for the whole industry, said Huang.

On Monday, Wang Mengshu, chief engineer of the China Railway Tunnel Group, told the annual session of the National People's Congress, the top legislative body, that the suspension cost the country more than 100 billion yuan, according to reports from the Xinhua News Agency.

"According to China's plans, by the end of this year the total track length will stretch 80,000 kilometers, and will be 120,000 kilometers by the end of 2015," Huang said.

The rails for the high-speed trains - currently 7,000 km in length - will account for 12,000 km of the 2015 total.

On July 23, a high-speed train crashed into a stalled engine near the city of Wenzhou leaving 40 people dead and 172 injured. It was the first major accident in the history of China's high-speed railway.

An official report released about six months later showed that the collision was caused by severe design defects in control-center equipment and inadequate inspection of parts.

"All the defective parts have been recalled and replaced," said Li Heping, another researcher at the China Academy of Railway Sciences and also a member of the CPPCC.

Following the crash, the government reduced the speed of bullet trains to 300 km per hour from 350 km. However, Huang said the reduction wasn't implemented because of the accident, but because China's current railway situation doesn't call for such a high speed. "When we add more trains, the speed may rise again." he said.

He also admitted that exports of high-speed trains will be affected by the crash in the short term, but he is optimistic about exporting trains and technology over the long term.

"Although in some technologies, China is still behind developed countries, such as Japan and Germany, we have advanced technologies that are comparable with those of other countries," he said.

BEIJING - Setting up and improving a long-term safety mechanism for China's rail transit system is a pressing task, a political adviser urged Saturday.

Zheng Huiqiang, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, made the remarks during a plenary meeting of the top political advisery body.

Zhang called for establishing and improving precaution, evaluation and emergency-response systems in China's urban rail lines to ensure safety.

A number of accidents in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou last year brought heavy casualties and economic losses.

"A precaution and evaluation system should be established to include various processes from planning to design, construction to operation," said Zheng, who is also vice president of Shanghai-based Tongji University.

An emergency safety system should include key aspects like emergency treatment, rating system, information, and training and drills, he said.

China is one of the world's fastest developers of rail transit, with 48 subway lines operating in 12 cities and municipalities by the end of 2010. The total length of rail transit lines in the country has reached 1,395 kilometers to date.

HANGZHOU - Workers in East China's Hangzhou city on Thursday completed digging a tunnel that runs under a high-speed railway and that will soon hold a subway line.

The 800-meter-long tunnel, which connects Wengmei Station and Yuhang High-speed Railway Station along the city's No 1 Subway Line, was dug under the Shanghai-Hangzhou High-speed Railway, making the subway line the first in China to run under an operating high-speed railway, said Huang Xianfeng, chief of the design department of the city's subway group.

The first subway line in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, the 48-km-long No 1 also runs under the Qiantang River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, added Huang.

Construction of the line started in March 2007, and it is expected to be put into trial operation in June.