Photo taken April 23, 2015 shows a high-speed train moving past a Yadan landform in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo: Xinhua/Cai Zengle)
China's railway sector sped up in 2015, not only in domestic network expansion but also in sending its high-speed train technology overseas.
Following are some facts and figures about the country's railway development.
RAILWAY EXPANSION
China invested big in railway construction in 2015. A total of 823.8 billion yuan (125.6 billion U.S. dollars) was pumped into the sector, and 9,531 km of railway lines started carrying passengers and goods.
Around 3,300 km of the new lines were for high-speed trains. China boasts the world's largest high-speed railway network, with an operating length of 19,000 km at the end of 2015, accounting for 60 percent of the world's total.
China has witnessed booming railway construction in the last five years.
From 2011 to 2015, the period in which China's 12th Five-Year Plan was implemented, fixed-asset investment in railways amounted to 3.58 trillion yuan, up 47.3 percent from the 11th five-year-plan period, and 30,500 km of railways were put into operation, more than doubling that of the previous five years.
The total length of China's railway network reached 121,000 kilometers by the end of last year.
Sheng Guangzu, general manager of the China Railway Corp., said China plans to invest 800 billion yuan in railways in 2016, especially in less-developed central and western regions.
About 2.5 billion passengers traveled by train last year, up 10 percent for the third year running. Bulk cargo transportation increased 18.7 percent in 2015 from the previous year and container cargo transportation rose 20.2 percent year on year.
In the 2011-2015 period, the extensive railway network carried 10.6 billion passengers and 15.5 billion tonnes of goods, up 49.1 percent and 13.6 percent from the previous five years.
GLOBAL PRESENCE
The year 2015 saw breakthrough for China Railway Corp. in expanding its shares in international logistics services.
Throughout the year, 815 cargo trains plowed between China and Europe, up 165 percent year on year.
Chinese railway contractors have increased their presence in overseas markets. Work has begun on the China-Laos railway, while the China-Thailand railroad and the Serbian section of the Serbia-Hungary line have been officially launched. A high-speed railway linking Jakarta and Bandung in Indonesia will soon start construction.
High-speed railway projects in Russia and the United States are being advanced.
China is also working to upgrade technology in high-speed train manufacturing. New high-speed locomotives with operating speed of 350 km per hour have rolled off production lines and are undergoing tests, which industry analysts said will be widely used in overseas projects.
