Twelve railway projects involving a total investment of 226.2 billion yuan ($32.79 billion) will be launched this year in the Yangtze River Delta region, according to China Securities Journal website.

Among the planned projects is a 41.8-billion-yuan high-speed rail from Shanghai to Huzhou in Zhejiang province via Suzhou in Jiangsu province.

The train traveling at 350 km/h is expected to cover the 164 km route from Huzhou to Shanghai in less than one hour.

The second phase of Shanghai to Nantong railway project, namely an extended section from Taicang in Jiangsu to Shanghai, will also be launched with an investment of 35.34 billion yuan. It will be 112 km long and trains will run at 200 km/h.

China plans to invest 800 billion yuan in railway projects in 2017, according to the Government Work Report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang on March 5.