The Signing Ceremony of Agreement on co-building Chengdu Metro Line 18 between Chengdu Urban and Rural Construction Commission and PowerChina Limited was held on Tuesday in Chengdu, southwestern China's Sichuan province.

Chengdu Metro Line 18, with a total length of 59.27 km, will be an express metro line with nine stations linking Chengdu South mainline station with Chengdu Tianfu International Airport which will be situated 51km east of the city near Jianyang. It is also designed as China's fastest metro system train with its maximum operational speed of 140km/h.

According to the agreement, the two sides will set up a new project management company in charge of the constructions and operational management in the service period of 22 years. After the service period, the management of Metro Line 18 will be returned to the government.

The Metro Line 18 is also the first of its kind not run by the Chengdu Metro Corporation Limited company.

It is also estimated that the initial investment of the 18th Metro Line project reaches 34.7 billion yuan (about 5 billion US dollars), making the line the country's largest joint venture project in urban rail transit systems.

Email: lijia@nbd.com.cn