Guangzhou, the Guangdong provincial capital, will build a new modern railway station in Panyu District at a cost of between 4.1 billion yuan (US$493.98 million) and 5.1 billion yuan (US$614.46 million).

Du Wen, director of the Preparation Committee of Guangzhou New Railway Station, said yesterday the station would become the most modern and the largest in Asia.

And Guangzhou, together with Shanghai, Beijing and Wuhan, will become one of the four largest railway hubs in 2020 when the new station starts service, Du said.

The current Guangzhou Railway Station, which is located in busy Yuexiu District, will be closed and all its passenger train services moved to the new station, which will be the destination of the planned Beijing-Guangzhou line which will reach a speed of more than 300 kilometres an hour, Du said.

Passengers from around the country will quickly be able to reach major cities in the Pearl River Delta by advanced light railway, metro and expressway networks.

The city now has three railways stations - Guangzhou, North and East - but all three are overloaded and cannot meet rising passenger flows in recent years.

The provincial government will construct more than 375.7 kilometres of light railway, forming a network connecting major cities in delta before 2010 at a cost of 78.45 billion yuan (US$9.45 billion).

Separately, the provincial government is considering expanding the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway into an eight-lane highway, China's first, to meet growing demand.

The current six-lane 122.8-kilometre expressway, opened in 1997, sees traffic flow of more than 3,000 vehicles an hour.

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