Workers have begun laying tracks on the first high-speed railway line in western China recently.

The railway line begins in Suining in southwest China's Sichuan Province and ends at Beibei in Chongqing, the largest metropolis in western China, with a total length of 164 km. The project, which has an estimated cost of 4.4 billion yuan (530 million US dollars), should have a maximum speed of 200 km per hour.

When the railway line opens to traffic in 2005, Chongqing will become a hub of railway transport with six railway lines running through the region. With the railroad it will take only an hour to travel from Chongqing to Suining and less than two hours to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province.

As an area with all sides surrounded by high mountains, travel through Sichuan province has been extremely difficult. Operation of the railway line is sure to speed up economic growth in the region.