BEIJING, Jan. 26 -- China has approved the construction of a new US$3.6 billion high-speed rail link between Shanghai and the eastern scenic city of Hangzhou using German-developed magnetic levitation technology, Xinhua News Agency reports Wednesday.

    National planning officials gave the go-ahead for the nearly 170-kilometer- (100 mile)-long project, to be jointly funded by the central and local governments, according to Xinhua.

    Officials earlier said such a high-speed link would reduce the time of a trip from Pudong Airport to Hangzhou to 26 minutes from about three hours now.

    The Xinhua report didn't provide any details on whether construction and supply contracts have been awarded for the project.

    But the long-expected approval of the rail link between Shanghai and Hangzhou appears to be a major coup for Germany's Transrapid International Consortium in its promotion of the magnetic levitation, or "maglev," technology.

    The consortium, including Thyssenkrupp AG and Siemens AG, developed the world's only commercial high-speed maglev, a link between Shanghai Pudong International Airport and the city's eastern suburbs.

    That US$1.2 billion (euro916 million) rail line uses a powerful magnetic field to suspend trains above the tracks. Its top speed is 430 kilometers per hour (270 miles per hour).

    The National Development and Reform Commission, a cabinet-level agency in charge of industrial development and price regulation, said the project will begin this year with a completion date set for 2009.

    (Source: China Daily)