Railway project boosts GDP and jobs

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Stretching 1300 kilometers between Beijing and Shanghai, and costing a staggering 220 billion yuan, the project aims to boost business for thousands of related companies and generate hundreds of thousands of jobs.

More than 90 percent of the railway project is already under construction. Nearly 200 million yuan is being spent on it everyday. It's a huge business opportunity for materials companies and construction companies. Lets take the Yellow River Bridge as an example.

Guo Minlong, China Raiways First Group said "The Yellow River Bridge costs 1 billion yuan. But it's just one tenth of the part we are responsible for. The part of the railway that we are building will consume 600 thousand tons of steel and 2 million tons of cement."

The China Railway First Group is responsible for 170 kilometers of the project and buys materials from local firms in the seven provinces and municipal cities where the railway crosses. Those companies think they are very lucky.

Guo Lihua said "We have supplied 0.7 million tons of cement for the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway project. That accounts for 30 percent of our total sales. The projects really helped us out during the first half of the year."

Apart from good business, the project has also created 120 thousand jobs. 20 percent of them are for construction workers. One year ago, migrant worker Yang Xiaodong was worried about his livelihood after being laid off by an export company. Now he's satisfied with a stable job.

Yang Xiaodong, Construction Worker of Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway said "Now I earn more than 2000 yuan a month. I feel it's a very stable job as it will last for quite a few years."

The project also promotes technological innovation. China's Northern Automotive Works earned a contact worth nearly 40 trillion yuan, building the world most advanced high-speed trains. The train is 85 percent self-developed by the company, and can run at 394 kilometers an hour, the fastest in the world.