China invested 155 billion yuan or approximately $US20 billion in the construction of large-scale railways last year.

The Ministry of Railways announced it has constructed 912 kilometers of new railway line and 1016 kilometers of double railway line. Last year, 1609 kilometers of new line, 722 kilometers of double line and 3958 kilometer of electrified railway line were put into operation.

Eleven passenger lines between Beijing and Tianjin, Wuhan and Guangzhou, Zhengzhou and Xi'an and Shijiazhuang and Taiyuan have been under construction. Renovations to electrified railway lines between Beijing and Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangxi and Jiaodong and Jinan have been completed and gone into operation.

The 10th Five-Year Plan period was a key phase in large-scale railway construction. There are currently 200 new and ongoing projects to build 28 passenger lines at a total cost of 1.25 trillion yuan or approximately US$1600 billion.

By People's Daily Online