This year Shanghai local authority will begin constructing Asia's largest railway station. The city announced the plan on Thursday.  

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

Construction of the station, which is expected to cost between 13 billion and 15 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion and 1.8 billion), will be complete in 2010. The design of the new station has been completed, according to Liu.

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

Currently the largest passenger railway station in Asia is Beijing West Railway Station which covers 510,000 square meters. It went into operation in 1996.

(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2006)