China’s state-run railway operator said it would continue its heavy investment in expanding China’s sprawling high-speed rail network in 2018, though it plans to spend less on fixed assets than last year, the South China Morning Post reports.
China Railway Corp has amassed enormous levels of debt due to its massive investment in high-speed rail in recent years, but analysts expect the continued investment to help China offset a planned decline in property investment and stabilize economic growth in 2018.
The RMB 732 billion yuan ($112.4 billion) allocated by the company for fixed-asset investment this year is slightly less than the RMB 801 billion spent in 2017, but roughly in line with the average of the past five years, the company said on Tuesday.
The funds will support China’s national plan to extend its high-speed railway network to 30,000 km by 2020, linking most of the big cities, general manager Lu Dongfu said.