Builders from China Railway No 4 Engineering Group rotate a 145.5-meter beam, weighing 10,000 metric tons, of the Super Bridge Traversing Shanghai-Kunming High-speed Railway early on July 30 on the 96-kilometer Shaoyang-Yongzhou HSR in Hunan province. SHI JIAMIN/FOR CHINA DAILY
Amid the country's push to expand the operating mileage of railways, Chinese railway operator China Railway promised to optimize the supply of passenger and freight services, strengthening the backbone role of railways in the comprehensive transport system.
China Railway aims to expand the operating mileage of railways from the current 165,000 kilometers to 180,000 km by the end of 2030, providing strong support for bolstering the modernization drive. Among them, high-speed railways will be increased from the current 50,000 km to 60,000 km by end-2030.
The operator announced on July 30 that in the first half of this year, Chinese railways handled a total freight volume of 2.015 billion metric tons, up 1.8 percent year-on-year, with railway freight transport working to build benchmark demonstration services for passenger-train-style express freight trains.
On July 21, Wang Qiming, deputy director of the National Railway Administration, said that in the first half of this year, railway fixed assets investment remained high, with a cumulative figure hitting 363.2 billion yuan ($53.79 billion), up 2.1 percent year-on-year, and playing an important role in expanding domestic demand and stabilizing growth.
