The State Development and Reform Commission has approved the 952km Xian-Hefei railway line, a major route for energy products and raw materials. The double-tracked line will run parallel to the existing route.

Estimated to cost Rmb43bn, the project will be financed jointly by the Ministry of Railways and the governments of Shanxi, Henan, Anhui and Hubei, the provinces that the line will pass through. It will take three-and-a-half-years to complete.

Xian is a major city in China’s interior. This railway project will be the seventh involving Xian that has been approved by the SDRC in 2009. Hefei, the capital of Anhui province, is on a Yangtze tributary and is well connected via road and railway with the cities of Anqing, Chizhou, Tongling, Wuhu and Maanshan, all situated on the Yangtze trunkline.