Track Network
China's high-speed rail system project is ambitious and when the major rail lines are completed by 2020, it will become the largest, fastest, and most technologically advanced high-speed railway system in the world. China's Ministry of Railways plans to build 25,000 km (16,000 mi) of high-speed railways with trains reaching speeds of 350 km/h. China invested $50 billion on its high-speed rail system in 2009 and the total construction cost of the high-speed rail system is $300 billion. The main operator of regular high-speed train services in the People's Republic of China is China Railway High-Speed (CRH).
China's conventional high-speed railway network is made up of four components:
- upgraded pre-existing rail lines that can accommodate high-speed trains,
- a national grid of mostly passenger dedicated HSR lines (PDLs),
- other newly built conventional rail lines, mostly in western China, that can carry high-speed passenger and freight trains, and
- certain regional "intercity" HSR lines.
Most of the rail lines in the latter three categories are now under construction.
Read more about this topic: High-speed Rail In China
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