With the completion of the 625 km-long Chongqing-Huaihua electrified railway, the mileage of China's electrified railways topped 20,000 km.

As a result, China has become the world third largest electrified railway country following Russia and Germany, according to a relevant official with the China Railway Electrification Bureau (Group).

The bureau has built more than 16,000 km of electrified railways, accounting for more than 80 per cent of the total mileage of electrified lines in the nation.

China has built the most railway lines in the construction history of its electrified railways during the period of the "10th Five-Year Plan (2001-2005)". More than 5,000 km of electrified lines have been completed in the country, which include the second Baoji-Lanzhou line, the second Shenchi-Shuozhou line, the Lanzhou-Wuwei line, the Harbin-Dalian line, the Qinhuangdao-Shenyang special passenger line and the Chongqing-Huaihua line.

The Harbin-Dalian line has been built with the technology, equipment and construction technology imported from Germany. The Qinhuangdao-Shenyang special passenger line has been built with China's independently developed technology, which has an experimental traveling speed at 321.5 km per hour. China has built and put into operation 43 electrified railway lines by the end of this year with a total mileage of 20,132 km.

It is estimated that China will put more than 4,000 km of electrified railways into operation in 2006. The lines including Jiaozhou-Jinan, Zhejiang-Jiangxi and Beijing-Shanghai will be equipped with motor train sets traveling at 200 km per hour so that a fast-speed electrified railway network will be formed. The 1,450 km-long Beijing-Shanghai line will be transformed into an electrified railway completely.

By People's Daily Online