Work on a major section of the Trans-Asian Railway is expected to begin this year, a senior official has revealed.

"We will start building the Yuxi-Mohan Railway before the end of the year, and it will be extended to Vientiane in Laos in the future," said Liu Baisheng, director of the Kunming Railway Bureau in Yunnan province and a deputy to the National People's Congress.

"It is an important section of the central part of the Trans-Asian Railway network's southern section."

The Yunnan provincial government and China Railway Corp have submitted a feasibility study on the project to the National Development and Reform Commission.

The 507-kilometer line will link Yuxi, a large city in central Yunnan, to Mohan on the China-Laos border. Construction will cost 51.6 billion yuan ($8.2 billion) and take six years to complete.

Passenger trains will run at up to 160 km/h, slashing journey times for tourists and business travelers from inland cities to the border regions.

China has been pushing forward its efforts to use railways to connect the world's second-largest economy to its neighbors in Southeast Asia.

Three rail lines linking Yunnan to Southeast Asian nations are included in the country's medium and long-term railway network plan, and some preliminary work, has begun, sources close to China Railway Corp said. The lines will start in Kunming, Yunnan's capital, and connect Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia before ending in Singapore.

Though the blueprints for the lines were drawn up some time ago, surveying and construction work has been held up by funding difficulties and disputes over speed issues.

The lines form the southern part of the ambitious Trans-Asian Railway, a project that was launched in the 1960s and moved closer in 2006 when 18 countries signed an agreement on the network.

The network will provide a continuous 14,000 km rail link between Singapore and Istanbul in Turkey, with possible onward connections to Europe and Africa, according to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

"The Chinese section of the east route became fully operational last year, creating a direct link between Kunming and Hekou, which borders Vietnam," Liu said.

"For the west route, we launched the Gaoligong Mountain Rail Tunnel and Nujiang River Rail Bridge projects last year. The projects will help to complete a railway connecting China and Myanmar."

Sheng Guangzu, general manager of China Railway Corp, said in January in the company's annual work report that there are plans to speed up work on lines linking the country with Laos and Thailand.

zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn