GUANGZHOU: An elevated railway is expected to start construction soon, linking the city's new Baiyun International Airport to Guangdong provincial capital's downtown.

Lu Guanglin, general manager of Guangzhou Metro Corporation, said the 30-kilometre railway would offer the city's new international airport crucial access to the railway traffic network in the Pearl River Delta which borders the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

It will take less than two hours for Hong Kong residents to reach the new airport using the existing Guangzhou-Kowloon through train service and the new elevated rail.

"Or it will take about an hour for Hong Kong tourists to arrive at the new airport once they complete the border checks in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and take the high speed Shenzhen-Guangzhou railway service to Guangzhou Eastern Railway Station," Lu said.

The fast-speed railway line is also expected to raise the attractiveness of the new airport for tourists and passengers from the entire southern Chinese region, including Hong Kong and Macao, and to further integrate cities in the Pearl River Delta, Lu said yesterday.

Located in the northern part of the city, the 20 billion yuan (US$2.4 billion) new Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, which is negotiating to open more international routes, is scheduled to begin operating on August 5, fortifying Guangzhou's status as an international aviation hub in South China.

The elevated railway line, which consists of 12 stations, will connect the new airport with Guangzhou Eastern Railway Station, joining the province's advanced railway and metro networks.

Guangzhou Eastern Railway Station in Guangzhou's busy Tianhe District is the starting point and the terminal of the current Guangzhou-Kowloon through train service. It takes about 90 minutes to complete the trip.

Lu said the new elevated railway line will start operating before 2010, when the southern metropolis will host the 2010 Asian Games.

Construction of the railway project is expected to start before the end of the year.

The railway line was designed to reach speeds of more than 160 kilometres per hour.

(China Daily 07/15/2004 page3)