The Transportation Department has started the demolition and relocation work required for the construction of the Hu-Tong railway, or Shanghai-Nantong Railway, which will link Shanghai and Nantong and will be the first railway line to pass through Taicang. The Hu-Tong railway will have three stops in Taicang – stretching a total of 37 km in the city - and the whole project is expected to take a total of five and a half years to build. It is a key project of the Twelfth Five Year Plan, and is also expected to promote the development of the Yangtze River Delta.