China plans to expand its railway network and will invest U.S. dollars 119 billion for it. The plan includes high-speed train tracks. The feasibility study for one of its flagship projects, the Sichuan-Tibet railway will also be completed by June 2019. China’s railway investment will boost its tourism.
Lu Dongfu, the Communist Party of China (CPC) chief for China Railway Corporation (CRC) said that the government will invest U.S. dollars 119 billion for railway expansion. The total expansion plan for 2019 is 6800 km. About 3200 km will be high-speed tracks for trains that can ply over 300 km per hour.
By the end of 2017, China had built and put into service 127,000 km of railway, up 150 percent from 1978 when the country started its reform and opening-up. The benefits of the high-speed railway are reaching the people. Some 9.95 billion trips were made by the end of last month with an annual increase over 30 per cent. China’s railway investment is expected to yield good result.
People’s Daily reported: “Since the first high-speed train at a designed speed of 350km/h put into service in 2008, China has cumulatively constructed 29,000-km of high-speed railway, which occupies more than two-thirds of world’s total mileage, creating a miracle in engineering construction”.
The Sichuan-Tibet Railway climbs from southwest China’s Sichuan province, which is located several meters above sea level, to the ‘Roof of the World’ of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) in southwest China, which has an attitude of over 4,400 meters.
Tags: China, railway investment
