HARBIN - Construction started Wednesday on a railway bridge, the first of its kind to span across China's border with Russia over the Heilongjiang River, known as Amur River in Russia.

Designed with an annual cargo transport capacity of 21 million tonnes, the bridge will connect Tongjiang Port in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province with Nizhneleninskoye in Russia.

China and Russia had conducted a five-year negotiation on the railway project.