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
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China plans to expand world’s largest high-speed railway network to 50,000km by 2025
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.