The Guangdong provincial government has decided to invest more than 108 billion yuan (US$13 billion) into the construction of a high speed railway network, connecting the provincial capital of Guangzhou with Shenzhen as well as major cities in the Pearl River Delta.

According to Guangdong Governor Huang Huahua, the province will build nine new cross-city railway tracks which will reach a total length of more than 930 kilometres before 2020.

The advanced high speed railway network will also help link major cities and counties in the Pearl River Delta to the bordering special administrative regions (SAR) of Hong Kong and Macao, as well as other provinces and municipalities on the mainland.

Another 59.5 billion yuan (US$7.17 billion) will be invested to build tracks which will cover a total length of more than 330 kilometres before 2010.

The Guangzhou-Zhuhai Railway Project will officially begin construction this year.

Construction of the 139.8 kilometre railway line will cost 20.8 billion yuan (US$2.51 billion). It will be completed by 2008.

The link, which is expected to allow railcars to reach speeds of 120 kilometres an hour, will start from Dashi Township in Guangzhou's Panyu District and end in Gongbei in Zhuhai.

It will take 47 minutes for trains to complete the journey, which currently takes about two hours by car to Zhuhai from Guangzhou on the Guangzhou-Zhuhai Expressway.

In addition to Guangzhou and Zhuhai, the cities of Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Xinhui and Foshan in the western part of the Pearl River Delta will also benefit from the railway when it starts carrying passengers.

Earlier this year, construction of the Guangzhou-Foshan Railway had started.

The 22-kilometre link, at a cost of more than 3.4 billion yuan (US$409 million), will be completed in three years.

The Pearl River Delta now includes the major cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Jiangmen, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Huizhou and Zhaoqing.

Construction of high speed railway projects between Guangzhou and the cities of Shenzhen and Dongguan in the eastern part of the Pearl River Delta will also be started before 2010.

An anonymous official from the Guangdong Provincial Planning Commission urged the cities in the Pearl River Delta yesterday to join together to form a megalopolis in the Asia-Pacific region in coming years.

"Cities in the Pearl River Delta have to team up to survive fierce domestic and international competition," the official said.

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