The Shanghai municipal government announced Thursday that the city will start building what will be Asia's largest railway station this year.

Hongqiao Railway Hub, the new station, is located in the west of downtown Shanghai, and covers an area of 1.33 million square meters, said Liu Lianqing, director of the Shanghai Railway Bureau.

Construction of the station, which is expected to cost between 13 billion and 15 billion yuan (1.6 billion and 1.8 billion U.S. dollars), will be completed by 2010.

The design of the new station has been made, according to Liu.

The station will provide terminals for four high-speed lines, including high-speed trains between Beijing and Shanghai, and between Shanghai and Ningbo, and the Shanghai-Hangzhou maglev railway, according to Liu.

Currently, the largest passenger transport railway station in Asia is Beijing West Railway Station, covering 510,000 square meters, which began operation in 1996.

Source: Xinhua