The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's economic planner, agreed to review and support the high-speed railway project under the Bohai sea connecting Dalian in Liaoning province and Yantai in Shandong province. The project is expected to be part of the country's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).

The rail link project, with an estimated investment of 200 billion yuan ($32.25 billion) will greatly shorten the distance and travel time between the two provinces of Liaoning and Shandong to around 100 km in about an hour. The current rail link between the two places is more than 1,000 km and takes more than 6 hours.

The high-speed railway from Dalian in Liaoning Province to Weihai in Shandong Province will be a crucial project. The Cross-Bohai-Strait Channel can help create a transportation artery for East China, a combination of sea, air and land transportation networks. The project will also connect the Liaodong Peninsula, Shandong Peninsula and Jing-Jin-Ji (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei) as a whole, promoting economic integration to push forward the economic development of North China and Northeast Asia.

The Cross-Bohai-Strait Channel was first proposed by the State Council in 1992. The cross-bay tunnel will stretch across 123 km to both ends. It will have an average depth of 20 to 30 m, though the deepest point will reach 70 m. The project took 20 years of research. It will face complex geographical factors such as geology and tides, and will cross Tanlu and Zhangjiakou Penglai fault zones that have been the source of chronic seismic activity. The speed of the trains will be 250 km/h.

Now the NPC is coordinating the building of the project. Liaoning, Shandong, Tianjin and Hebei are advancing the process of building the high-speed railway in the Bohai-Rim. The undersea rail tunnel in the Cross-Bohai-Strait Channel will be a component of the high-speed railway in the Bohai-Rim. 05/15.