China to spend more on railways in 2014

China plans more railways in 2014, China Railway Corporation (CRC) said Wednesday.

At least 7,000 kilometers of railway will be built this year, 400 kilometers more than planned earlier this year, and 48 new railway construction projects will be started instead of the original 44, CRC said.

The CRC will increase fixed-asset investment from the previously planned 700 billion yuan (about 113 billion U.S. dollars) to 720 billion yuan.

The new railways will be mainly built in central and western China. This is part of the follow-up to the State Council meeting a week ago which decided to invest more in railways.

In the first three years of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), 1.92 trillion yuan was invested in railways, resulting in 12,400 new kilometers, up 116 percent and 202 percent respectively from the same period of the 11th Five-Year Plan, official data showed.

In the first three months this year, 61 billion yuan went on railway building, up 9 percent year on year.