(Photo/Wu Sheng)

Construction of the Jiangsu section of the new high-speed railway along northern bank of the Yangtze River started on September 28 with an estimated total investment of 116.4 billion yuan.

The Jiangsu section runs about 365 kilometers and includes 11 stations in the province. With a designed speed of up to 350 kilometers per hour, the project will be completed in 2027. Upon completion, all of the province's 13 cities will be connected by bullet train. The new line is also expected to play an important role in promoting the Yangtze River Delta integration and the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

Covering an area of 26,966 square kilometers, regions along the Jiangsu section of the new high-speed railway boast a beautiful environment and rich tourism resources, which haven't been fully developed due to limited transport capacity. These regions are also home to 26.2 million residents and a GDP of more than 4 trillion yuan, 31% and 34.4% of the province's total respectively. As a result, the new line will be pivotal in allocating resources and driving economic and industrial development.

The coastal province currently operates about 1,450 train trips per day, among which 85% is high-speed service. Jiangsu plans to complete an investment of 53.8 billion yuan in railway construction this year as it moves forward to expand the railway length by 1,000 kilometers to 5,200 kilometers by 2025, when a strong railway network will basically take shape.

Jiangsu's high-speed railway lines will be approximately 3,000 kilometers long by then and link 90% of the counties and county-level cities, according to the plan.

In addition, it will take about 4-6 hours to travel from Nanjing to China’s major city clusters, one hour to travel between key cities in the delta region.