A major railway connecting Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, with Guangzhou, the southern Guangdong Province capital, is expected to begin construction on October 13, a local official said in Guiyang on Monday.

The 857km electrified railway, co-invested by the Railway Ministry, Guizhou and Guangdong provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is expected to be operational in 2012, said Wang Tongjun, deputy head of Chengdu Railway Bureau, which administrates railways in Sichuan and Guizhou provinces and Chongqing municipality.

The investment is 85.8 billion yuan (US$12.53 billion).

The railway will cut travel time between the two cities from 20 hours to 6 hours.

Trains are expected to run at 200km per hour, with a daily capacity of 100 trains and an annual capacity for goods transportation of 25 million tons.

The line is conducive to transporting goods from southwest China to the booming Pearl River Delta areas, including Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, Wang said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 7, 2008)