Construction of a massive project - the Gemas-Johor Bahru railway in Malaysia with the cooperation of China - started in Segamat, Malaysia, on Tuesday, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Ning Jizhe, deputy head of China's National Development and Reform Commission, attended the commencement ceremony.
The project is being built under contract by China Railway Construction Corp, China Railway Group and China Communications Construction Co. The contract amount is about $2.3 billion.
According to a statement released earlier by China Railway, the project will link Gemas and Johor Bahru in Malaysia. It will have an electrified double-track and meter-gauge railway.
With total length of 191.14 kilometers, it has a designed speed of 160 kilometers per hour for passenger trains and 90 kilometers per hour for freight trains.
The project is scheduled to be completed in 2020.
Razak said the project will greatly boost the region's economic development, create more jobs and promote trade and economic cooperation between Malaysia and China.
A key infrastructure project undertaken in cooperation with China, the railway will attract the attendance of many Malaysian companies and people. "Chinese firms will bring advanced technologies, which will benefit both countries," Ning said.
