CHINA’s National Development and Reform Commission (NRDC) has approved the construction of a new 350km/h high-speed line, a 160km/h main line and three metro lines in Wuxi, with overall investment totalling Yuan 248.5bn ($US 38.55bn).
The new 554.6km high-speed line will be constructed between Shanghai, Nanjing and Hefei. The Yuan 180bn line will consist of 519.9km of new line and 16 stations of which 10 will be new-build. The line is expected to carry 50 million passengers per year. The cost includes Yuan 6bn for rolling stock. Construction is expected to take seven years.
A Yuan 17.8bn, 239km 160 km/h conventional line with 20 stations will link Ruijin in Jiangxi province and Meizhou in Guangdong province in the south of the country. It is planned to operate 13 pairs of passenger trains per day, and annual freight tonnage is forecast at 1.44 million tonnes. Construction is expected to take four and a half years.
NDRC also approved phase 3 of Wuxi’s metro plan 2021-2026 in November. The plan will add three lines - Line 4 phase 2, plus lines 5 and 6.
Line 4 phase 2 will be 8.6km long and cost Yuan 5.9bn with construction expected to take four years, extending the line from Bolan Zhongxin to Xishilu. Line 5 will be 28.9km, running from Tangchunzhan to Xinyunlu, at a cost of Yuan 22.8bn with a six-year construction period. Line 6 will be 22.3km long, cost Yuan 19.3bn and take six years to construct, between Hushidi Gongyuan and Guangyuanlu. Just 40% of the Yuan 48bn total cost will be provided by the state.
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