China’s railway network, already the world’s longest, is developing at record high speed and is to be doubled soon, Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet reported on Wednesday.
“China’s goal is to connect all important cities with railway lines,” the report said.
Collaborating with German Siemens, Japanese Kawasaki and Bombardier both in Canada and Sweden, China has built its own high-speed train CRH380A that can reach 486 kilometers per hour, cutting the journey between Beijing and Shanghai in half to about 4 hours.
Construction of the high-speed railway network will also cover inland China, the report said. It aims to encourage more investment to move from coastal areas to inland China and ultimately raise the living standards in those regions.
Within the next five years, a total of 3.5 trillion yuan (over 500 billion U.S. dollars) will be invested in high-speed track construction and train manufacturing, averaging at about 700 billion yuan (over 100 billion dollars) each year.
Swedish companies such as Atlas Copco, SKF and Trelleborg have participated in China’s railway and high-speed train development, according to the report.
Hans Rosling, a development expert and also professor at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, was quoted as saying that the construction of the high-speed railway network will bring about “good economy, good education, good medical care, better and longer life, all good things.” – Xinhua
