Construction of a new high-speed train network in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces is set to get underway before the end of this year, the Suzhou government said on Friday.

The railway, expected to cost 108 billion yuan (US$16 billion) and be completed in five years, will cover 310 kilometers with ten stops. It will start from Nantong in Jiangsu and run to Ningbo in Zhejiang, with stops at Suzhou and Jiaxing, four cities that generate about 20 percent of the GDP of the whole Yangtze River Delta Region – Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, provinces along with Shanghai.

Nantong is only about 100 kilometers from Suzhou, but there is no direct train route between the two cities. Traffic jams are common on the Suzhou-Nantong bridge across the Yangtze.

Ningbo faces similar problems. Though only 100 kilometers south of Jiaxing, trains have to detour through Hangzhou because of Hangzhou Bay, a problem to be solved by a 34-kilometer bridge.