01:15
China plans to expand world’s largest high-speed railway network to 50,000km by 2025
China plans expansion of high-speed railway equal to combined length of next 5 largest countries by network size by 2025
- China, which has the world’s largest high-speed railway network, will expand its length to 50,000km by 2025
- The country will also widen use of the Beidou satellite navigation system, while tightening control of transport data
China will extend its high-speed rail network nearly 32 per cent by 2025, roughly equal to the combined length of the next five largest countries by network size, amid an emerging consensus that Beijing is again leaning on infrastructure investment to curb an economic slowdown.
China, which has the world’s largest high-speed railway network, will expand its length to 50,000km by 2025, 12,000km longer than the end of 2020, according to the new five-year transport plan issued on Tuesday by the State Council, the country’s cabinet.
The increase exceeds the combined length of high-speed rail networks in Spain, Japan, France, Germany and Finland last year, which was 11,954km, according to data from the International Union of Railways, an international rail transport industry body headquartered in Paris.
There are obvious shortcomings in intercity and urban railways in key city clusters and metropolitan areas
China’s high-speed railway network was 38,000km at the end of last year, 8,000km more than the target set by Beijing in the 2017 plan.
Still, the State Council document said China’s transport system is still “unbalanced” and insufficiently developed.
“There are obvious shortcomings in intercity and urban railways in key city clusters and metropolitan areas,” it read.
Is there a dark side to China’s high-speed rail network?
The National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planning agency, approved two new high-speed rail lines with a combined length of 826.8km last Friday, worth 238 billion yuan (US$37.5 billion).
The key to stabilising growth this year is steady investment, especially in infrastructure and property, Liu Shijin, deputy director of the Economic Affairs Committee at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said at a virtual forum on Monday.
Lu Ting, chief China economist of Nomura, said in a note on Wednesday Beijing is likely to speed up investment in infrastructure projects, though “the size is unlikely to be sufficient to stabilise growth”.
The latest high-speed rail expansion is part of a push to increase the national network to 165,000km by 2025 from 146,000km in 2020, according to the five-year plan.
01:28
China rail network to expand with 3,300km of new tracks in 2022
The new five-year plan said China aims to have full coverage under its Beidou system in key areas of domestic transport, while steadily promoting its application in global maritime shipping and road transport.
“The independent innovation of some core products and technologies is not strong. The transport security situation is still serious,” the plan said.
