China, which has the longest high-speed railway network in the world at over 19,000 km, plans to increase it to 30,000 km by 2020, a top official has said.
“By the end of 2015, the length of high-speed railway or HSR lines in operation in China exceeded 19,000 km with nearly 10,000 km under construction, making the country top of the world in terms of length of high-speed railways both in operation and under construction,” Vice General Engineer of the China Railway Corporation Zhao Guotang said.
“The operative mileage of HSR in China has taken 60 per cent of total amount in the world. During the decade from 2005-2015, the total mileage of HSR lines constructed in other parts of the world was no more than 4,500 km, so we can see most prosperous development of HSR lines is in China,” he told visiting journalists from India and some ASEAN nations at the China Railways headquarters in Beijing.
He highlighted that the fast development of high-speed railways in China is changing the Chinese people’s traveling habits.
At present, Zhao said, 4,000 electric multiple unit or EMU trains are operated daily on China’s HSR network, accounting for 63 per cent of the total passenger trains operated daily in the nation.
At present, the backbone of China’s high-speed railway network consists of “Four East-West Railways and Four North-South Railways” and high-speed railways have been weaved into a network covering China’s three city clusters — the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the Pan-Bohai Region, facilitating passengers’ travel, he said.
In addition, a 2,000-kilometer network of intercity railway will be formed in economically developed and densely populated areas. A total of 3,000 kilometers of branch lines will be expanded, offering a “seamless” transfer experience.
The plan says that high speed trains will carry 65% of the total passengers by 2020, and the travelling between adjacent major cities will be shortened to 1-4 hours.
According to requirements, 80% of the train tickets should be available on online platforms.
（Source: ourjiangsu.com）
