Li Dejin, director of Pingtan’s administration, conducted an inspection tour of a railway project on Xiaolian Islet in Pingtan on March 3.

Li urged safety and quality of construction after investigation following the inspection.

Xiaolian Islet is one of many stops of the 16.3-km cross-sea railroad bridge that links Changle county and Pingtan county. The cross-sea rail link will start from Songxia Port in Changle; stretch southeast over the Yuanhong channel, the Guyumen channel, Changyu Island, Xiaolian Island, the Xiaolian-Dalian island channel, Dalian Islet and Haitan Strait; and finally reach Suao town on Pingtan Island.

The bridge is part of the 88-km Fuzhou-Pingtan Railway.

Background: Fuzhou-Pingtan Railway

Construction of the Fuzhou-Pingtan Railway – which will link the capital city of Fuzhou and the island county of Pingtan in Fujian province – began on Oct 31, 2013.

The line stretches 88.4 kilometers, with a designed speed of 160 km per hour (Fuzhou-Fuzhou South) and 200 km per hour (Fuzhou South to Pingtan), a passenger capacity of 50 million and cargo capacity of 15 million tons.

The railway project – with a total accrued investment of 26.8 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) – is expected to take over five years.