Construction of a new train station in the central China city of Wuhan in Hubei Province began Friday in a scheme to establish a new national railway hub.

The station, covering 370,000 square meters, will include 20 tracks and 11 platforms at a cost of 4.1 billion yuan (US$512.5 million).

It is expected to be completed in 2008 and will eventually be able to handle 31 million passengers a year, according to the Railways Ministry.

The station is designed to deal with high-speed trains linking Wuhan with major Chinese cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou and Guangzhou.

After completion, travel times between Wuhan and Beijing in the country's north, and Wuhan and Guangzhou in the south will be cut by more than half to only four or five hours.

The government will invest 10 billion yuan (US$1.25 billion) to build support infrastructure and improve the surrounding environment.

Wuhan has two other stations in its Wuchang and Hankou districts.

The new station will help Wuhan to become one of the four railway hubs in China, the others being Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The government will input another 35 billion yuan (US$4.4 billion) into supporting railway construction in the next five years.

Analysts said this would help ease China's heavy railway traffic, especially in peak periods such as week-long holidays of May Day, National Day and Spring Festival.

Railways Ministry figures show the government invested more than 80 billion yuan (US$10 billion) into railway projects in the first eight months, 40 percent more than last year.

In the next 15 years, the investment in railway construction is expected to reach two trillion yuan (US$250 billion).

(Xinhua News Agency September 30, 2006)