China to build north-south trans western high speed railway

Chinese rail experts are holding meetings in China's western hub city of Xi'an to discuss the feasibility creating a new high-speed rail line linking Inner Mongolia in the north with Hainan in the south.

The line would cut through six provincial-level regions, including Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi and Guangdong before ending on the island of Hainan.

The idea is to run the line through many of the regions in China home to this country's ethnic minorities, which are very popular tourist destinations.

Proposals will see the line make stops in the tourist cities if Yan'an, Xi'an, Zhangjiajie, Guilin, Yulin and finally in Hainan, after crossing the Qiongzhou Strait between Guangdong and the island province.

However, caution for the plan is already being voiced, as the proposed line would run through a number of ecologicially-sensitive areas of China.

The cost of the proposed link hasn't been laid out.

But it's said to be under consideration for the Chinese government's next 5-year planning cycle, which is scheduled to begin next year.