China Travel Advice

Before long, those who travel on China’s eastern coast between Wenzhou and Fuzhou can take a train to get to their destinations.

Constructors have recently completed the last section of the rail tracks between Wenzhou, which is in Zhejiang Province, and Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province farther south. Passenger service on the railway is expected to start in June 2009.

Railway has always played an important role in passenger and cargo transportation in China. For a long time now, however, there has been no rail connection among cities that dot China’s eastern coast. Railways currently in operation are located farther inland, built thus to link the population centers in those regions.

As China’s economy boomed in recent years, coastal cities, even some relatively small ones, have benefited from China’s rapidly expanded foreign trade, and the need for a coastal railway has increased notably. In response, the Chinese government made a plan to build a railway that will extend all the way from Shanghai, which at the midpoint of China’s long coast, to Shenzhen, which is next to Hong Kong. Major stops on the way would include Ningbo, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen and Shantou, all of which are emerging or established economic centers. Once in operation, trains running on the railway will transport passengers at the high speed of 200-250 km per hour. This will significantly reduce the time needed to travel between the two destinations.

Relatedly, the Chinese government recently announced ambitious plans to spend hundreds of billion dollars to construct more railways in other parts of China, including the outlying regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. Partly, this is a continuous effort to strengthen China’s transportation infrastructure; partly, this is intended to combat the current global economic downturn. It is hoped that the large-scale construction projects will stimulate China’s domestic consumption and thus make up for the anticipated decline in the demand for Chinese goods abroad.