[photopress:railwayssnow.jpg,full,alignright]China will invest RMB1.5 trillion ($190 billion) to increase the nation’s rail network to over 90,000 kilometers by 2010.
Li Guoyong, transportation director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at the China Railway Financing Forum ‘we will invest 300 billion yuan (38 billion dollars) in railway construction next year’ and that the investment is ‘the biggest in China’s history’ would increase the size of China’s rail network by almost 20 percent.
China’s 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) states that solving hardware problems, such as the network and machinery, are the core issues for the development of the nation’s railways.
Long Hua, an analyst from Industrial Securities Co, said, ‘The transportation turnover rate for railways will double with the completion of main trunk lines in 2010. The railway industry’s boom is expected to last over 10 years.’
Slow and relatively poor-quality services and busy trunk lines remain the major problems confronting China’s rail industry. A lack of services will remain a problem in 2010, but the Ministry of Railways expects this to be solved by 2015.
Li Guoyong said, ‘We plan to set up an inter-city passenger transportation express, which will reach a speed of at least 200 kilometers per hour.’
Source: China Daily