China's railway sector completed 194.7 billion yuan (about 26.91 billion U.S. dollars) in fixed-asset investment in the first four months of this year, a 5.3-percent increase year on year, according to China State Railway Group (China Railway) on Sunday.
The China Railway Chengdu Bureau that oversees railway construction in southwest China saw an investment of 18.19 billion yuan (about 2.51 billion U.S. dollars) to this effect, accounting for nearly 10 percent of the national total, highlighting steady progress in the execution of key railway construction projects in western China.
Several tunnels, including the Mopan Mountain tunnel on the Chengdu-Chongqing high-speed railway and the Xiling Snow Mountain tunnel on the Xi'an-Shiyan line, have been successfully bored through.
Meanwhile, the execution of major projects of building China's national high-speed rail network, comprising eight vertical and eight horizontal lines, is advancing steadily. The Chengdu-Dazhou-Wanzhou high-speed railway, a key part of the "Yangtze River Corridor," has entered the track-laying phase.
The Zaoqing Bridge on the Xiong'an-Shangqiu high-speed railway has seen the completion of its box girder installation, and the Gaolanhe Bridge on the Yichang-Xingshan line has had its main span successfully closed. "Going forward, we will focus on enhancing the overall functionality and efficiency of the rail network, fast-tracking the preliminary work for carrying out the relevant network interconnection, supplementation and capacity enhancement projects. We will work to ensure that key projects, including the Zhengzhou-Lanzhou section of the Lanzhou-Lianyungang Railway, the Hami East Station, and the capacity enlargement of the Ejina-Hami section of the Linhe-Hami Railway, will see their construction begin within this year," said Chen Chao, deputy director of the investment planning division of the development and reform department at China Railway.
China's railway investment up 5.3 percent in Jan-April period
