Nation on track to meet annual railway investment target: expert

China invested 453.6 billion yuan ($68.49 billion) in fixed assets in the railway sector in the first eight months of 2017, up 4.7 percent year-on-year, media reports said on Wednesday.

With a number of new projects getting underway in the second half of the year, the total investment in railway construction could surpass 800 billion yuan, part of a push to link existing and future high-speed railway lines into a comprehensive network by 2030.

From 2014 to 2016, China spent 808.8 billion yuan, 823.8 billion yuan and 801.5 billion yuan, respectively, on building railways.

Earlier this year, Lu Dongfu, general manager of State-owned train operator China Railway Corp, announced that the planned investment in railways for 2017 would be 800 billion yuan, according to a report by the Economic Information Daily on Wednesday.

A total of 2,100 kilometers of new rail lines will be put into operation as well as 4,000 kilometers of electrified rail lines, said Lu.

Li Hongchang, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, told the Global Times Wednesday that the current progress suggests that the year's target will be met. "Construction of many railway projects takes several years. The fixed-assets investment figures are calculated based on the balance remaining each year," Li said.

"As a result of careful planning, the target announced in the beginning of this year should be achieved without hiccups," Li noted.

The Economic Information Daily reported that construction of several railways began since July. For instance, work on the 206-kilometer-long line linking Guangzhou and Shanwei in South China's Guangdong Province began on July 5.

The line is a major regional link that will improve the high-speed rail network system in southern China.

This section will involve investment of 51.3 billion yuan.

Work on the 180-kilometer-long Lianyungang-Xuzhou railway line, a missing link between Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and the Port of Lianyungang in East China's Jiangsu Province, began on July 13.

The section will further boost connectivity of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and it will cost 28.17 billion yuan.

Another rail in Dunhua, Northeast China's Jilin Province, will reach the Changbai Mountain and reduce travel time from Shenyang in Northeast China's Liaoning Province to the tourist site to four hours.

Many of the lines under construction are part of the country's medium- to long-term railway network plan covering the period from 2016 to 2030.

According to the plan, by 2025, the country will have a rail network of 175,000 kilometers, which includes 38,000 kilometers of high-speed lines. The U.S. leads the world in terms of railway track with more than 200,000 kilometers.