The steel structure of a railway station in the Hongqiao Integrated Transport Hub is expected to be completed by the end of next month, a month ahead of schedule, the Shanghai Railway Bureau said yesterday.

Meanwhile, construction of an elevated road connecting the transport hub with downtown will start next month and should be completed in time for the 2010 World Expo.

About 35 percent of the above-ground steel structure of the Hongqiao Railway Station, the Shanghai end of the high-speed rail link to Beijing, has been completed, the authority said. The underground steel work was completed in May.

The builders said the whole project will be operational by July.

Nearly 80,000 tons of steels, almost double the steel used in the Beijing International Stadium, the bird's nest, will be used in the station, making it the biggest in the city.

(Shanghai Daily August 6, 2009)