Bohai Sea underwater railway to be considered for 13th five-year plan

Lanzhou-Urumqi high-speed railway's section in Gansu province is on trial. [Photo/ Xinhua]

An ambitious high-speed railway to run beneath Bohai Sea may be taken into consideration when the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's economic planner, decides its 13th five-year plan (2016- 2020), 21st Century Business Herald reported on Tuesday.

Zhang Wufeng, head of the NDRC in Shandong province, said it has agreed to "consider" and "support" the project that would connect Lushun in Dalian city, Northeast China's Liaoning province, with Penglai in Yantai, situated in Shandong.

It now takes over 10 hours to travel the over-1000-kilometer land route between Lushun and Penglai, which are separated by Bohai Sea and located on the Liaodong and Shandong peninsulas respectively.

The proposed underwater high-speed railway would shorten the distance to over 100 kilometres while the travelling time would be reduced to 40-50 minutes, said Wang Mengshu, academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and tunnel expert.

Wang added that the rail link will run at 250 kilometers per hour according to its design.

Large amounts of capital, raw materials such as steel and cement as well as labor would be needed to accomplish the large-scale project.