According to the Ministry of Railway in a new release last week, the construction of a new railway station in Hangzhou has started.

The new one, which is planning to be finished by the end of 2012, costs 12 billion yuan ($ 1.75 billion), 5 million yuan more than Asia’s biggest Beijing South railway station.

In spite of costing more, the size of Hangzhou East railway station will still be smaller than that of Beijing South, said an official.

Although smaller than Beijing South in size, the Hangzhou East railway station will have 28 platforms, 4 platforms more than Beijing South’s.

But the size of a railway station is not judged by the number of platforms or floor space, according to Zhao Jian, a railway expert and professor with Beijing Jiaotong University.

He said that a railway station mainly handling regional railway transport cannot possibly become the largest in the country, since the number of passengers handled will be limited.

When the new station is finished, three high speed intercity railways linking Hangzhou with Shanghai, Nanjing and Ningbo, as well as the planned Shanghai- Hangzhou maglev train, will stop by the station.

60% of the total cost for the construction is from the ministry, while the rest will be covered by the Hangzhou government and Zhejiang provincial government.

The Hangzhou East railway station is one of seven new railway project that cost 100 billon yuan, said the release.

The two intercity rail projects which link Hangzhou will be completed at the same with the finishing of the Hangzhou East railway station.

The 249-km Hangzhou-Nanjing railway will cost 31.38 billion yuan, with trains running at 350 kph. The 150-km Hangzhou-Ningbo railway, which costs 21.39 billion yuan, will have trains running at 250 kph and will transport about 80 million people every year.

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China, economy, Hangzhou, rail, station