It's China's latest mass transit milestone.  

By the end of this year, China's high-speed railway mileage reached 35,000 kilometers. Both construction and operation scale now rank first in the world. 

"People themselves now have more desire to travel, to see our beautiful landscapes. The original railway could not meet travel demand or requirements, which promoted the development of our high-speed railway technology and network construction." said Qi Yanhui, deputy director of the Department of Science and Information Technology, China Railway. 

Over 5,000 kilometers of high-speed rail has been opened during past 12 months, hitting the opening peak of the past four years. In Central China, the completion of the sections from Zhengzhou to Xiangyang, and Shangqiu to Hefei, brought high-speed rail to some small cities along the route. The Yibin to Guiyang line has also made it easier for people from poverty-stricken areas to travel around the country. 

Officials said China will continue to pursue high-speed railway technology and speed up EMU trains. "We are working on technology innovation, experimental verification, and the safety concerns of higher speeds, as high as 400 kilometers an hour. We will provide a time frame after getting a comprehensive demonstration from the needs of the national economy, the needs of the people, the safety test verification, etc." noted Qi.  

Currently, over 5,000 high-speed trains run daily across China, transporting more than 5 million passengers in less than half the previous time. And in 2020, about 2.7 trillion yuan, or about 400 billion U.S. dollars will be invested into transportation development, nearly 30 percent of it will go to the railway sector. This provides a solid foundation for the country's railway networks to keep rolling on.