The Shanghai-Beijing high-speed railway IS going to happen because in the next few days contractors will be chosen and work will start almost immediately. This is a massive scheme — a bigger investment even than the Three Gorges project.

Five construction groups are tendering to build the 1,318-kilometer railway.

The project has been divided into six sections for contracts and the combined investment involved is said to reach about RNB100 billion yuan (US$13.7 billion).

The total cost will be twice that as the budget needed to includes trains, management and logistics. The Ministry of Railways will fund nearly 80% of it.

The high-speed rail link, scheduled for completion in five years, will cut by more than half the travelling time between Shanghai and the capital — from 12 hours to less than five.

The trains will travel at up to 350 kilometers per hour.