(ECNS) – China is likely to see total investment in the railway sector hit a new high this year, the Economic Information Daily reported on Thursday.
China Railway Corporation plans to kick off construction on 45 projects in 2016 and put more than 3,200 kilometers of new railway lines into operation, including 1,300 kilometers of high-speed rail, according to the newspaper.
Last year, the railway sector registered 823.8 billion yuan ($127.16) in fixed-asset investment, including 9,531 km of new railway lines, of which 3,306 km were high-speed rail. By the end of 2015, a total of 121,000 km of railway lines were in operation, including more than 19,000 km of high-speed rail, which accounted for more than 60 percent of the world's total.
At a recent meeting on railway construction, Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai urged the railway sector to make an effort to ensure that railway investment exceeded 800 billion yuan this year.
Wang Mengshu, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, sees no difficulty in meeting the goal, and said actual investment may even surpass 800 billion yuan if all projects run smoothly, according to the report.
