China builds its first PPP high-speed railway

Aerial photo taken on Feb. 1, 2021 shows the construction site of Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou inter-city railway in east China's Zhejiang province. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)

HANGZHOU, June 22 (Xinhua) -- China's first high-speed railway controlled by private capital has been built to connect several cities in east China's Zhejiang Province.

On Tuesday, the tracks were completed for the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou intercity railway, one of China's first group of high-speed railway projects funded by a public-private partnership (PPP), with the private sector having a holding status.

With a total investment of nearly 44.9 billion yuan (about 6.95 billion U.S. dollars), the 266.9 km rail line has been designed with eight stops and a speed of 350 km per hour.

The new rail line will be opened by the end of this year and will be connected to the high-speed railway network in the Yangtze River Delta region. It will halve the travel time between Hangzhou and Taizhou to approximately one hour.