Business
20:30, 02-Jan-2019
China plans to create extra 6,800 km rail track in 2019 amid infrastructure push
Updated
20:25, 05-Jan-2019
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China plans to build 6,800 kilometers (4,225 miles) worth of new railway lines in 2019, a 40 percent jump from the length of tracks laid out last year, the national railway operator said on Wednesday amid a wider push to boost infrastructure spending.
At least 3,200 kilometers of this target will be on high-speed rail, the China Railway Corp said in a post on its official WeChat account.
China Railway Corp said it created 4,683 kilometers worth of new rail lines last year, of which 4,100 were part of the high-speed rail.
Meanwhile,China's state planner said it has approved many inter-city railway projects in the eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Anhui, with a combined total investment value of 231.7 billion yuan (33.82 billion U.S. dollars).
The eight inter-city railway projects will have a total length of 1,063 km, with 980 km in Jiangsu, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement on its website.
China invested 802.9 billion yuan in rail fixed assets in 2018. It had set an initial budget of 732 billion yuan in January last year.
(With input from Reuters)