The National Development and Reform Commission recently issued a letter of approval for the Jining-Datong-Yuanping High-speed Railway to be built, according to rail officials.

With a total investment of 33.93 billion yuan ($4.88 billion), the Jining-Datong-Yuanping High-speed Railway is being jointly constructed by China State Railway Group Co, Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Shanxi province. 

The railway will run from the Ulaanqab Railway Station of the Hohhot-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway, via Datong and Shuozhou cities in Shanxi province, to Yuanping county in Xinzhou city in Shanxi, and connect with Datong-Xi'an High-speed Railway.

There will be eight railway stations along the 269.6-kilometer railway, with Ulaanqab Railway Station and Datong South Railway Station as connection stations with Hohhot-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway and Datong-Xi'an High-speed Railway.

It will take 4.5 years to complete the railway, which will have a design speed of 250 km per hour and annual one-way transportation capacity reaching 30 million passengers.

Officials said the new high-speed railway will further improve the structure of the railway network in Shanxi, add another major channel to the outside world to the province and drive local tourism development.

In addition, it will be of great significance to the integration of Shanxi province into the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regional development, and to accelerate the integration of logistics, capital and information with Inner Mongolia.