BEIJING, June 4 -- Another speed-up on the Beijing-Shanghai railway line could be due soon that will further cut travelling time between the cities.

    The Shanghai-based Wenhuibao newspaper reported that because of the electrification of the line, the highest speed of trains on the 1,464-kilometre railway will reach 200 kilometres per hour in October, which could cut travelling time to 7 hours.

    Currently it takes the fastest train more than 12 hours to run between the two cities.

    Neither the Ministry of Railways nor the Shanghai Railway Bureau would confirm the report on Friday.

    On Thursday, the Shanghai Railway Bureau announced it had completed the electrification of a nearly 600-kilometre section at a cost of 2.03 billion yuan (US$254 million).

    Despite five previous speed-ups on the line, the Ministry of Railways decided to carry out electrification to further improve transportation.

    The railway bureaux of Beijing and Jinan in East China's Shandong Province are electrifying the other sections with completion expected by July 1, the newspaper reported.

    One other facet of the speed-up project not yet finished involves the upgrading of locomotives and carriages.

    Fifteen transformer substations have been built, and the signal system has been modified at the 83 railway stations along the line.

    The railway which also passes through Tianjin Municipality as well as Hebei, Anhui, Shandong and Jiangsu provinces makes up only 2.2 per cent of China's total track distance but handles 8.9 per cent of its goods transport and 12.4 per cent of its passenger traffic.

    Experts said trains with electric locomotives are faster, more efficient and environmentally friendlier than the diesel locomotives currently in widespread use.