Fast forward

Even as doubts rose whether such actions were aimed at slowing down railway construction, Sheng has been quick to reaffirm that the construction planned during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015) would be rolled out fast across the country as planned. Though he did not give any clear indications to the exact length of the high-speed railway network, he indicated that it would stretch to 120,000 km by the end of 2015, up from the current 91,000 km.

Yu Bangli, chief economist with the railway ministry, had in a recent meeting indicated that the total investment in railways during the next five years would be 2.8 trillion yuan, an increase of 41.4 percent from 2006-2010.

Although financing for railways, like that for other industries, is subject to the impact of the macroeconomic environment, "the funds for railways can be guaranteed", he says.

Dong from the NDRC believes that the fast development of railways in China during recent years is inevitable, as the country's economic boom has made it capable of executing such huge infrastructure projects, while the diversification of financing for railways (such as collaboration between the ministry and local governments) has guaranteed funds for high-speed networks.

"Local governments, investing organizations and enterprises, are all optimistic about the railway market, and hope to take a slice of the huge cake when the high-speed railway lines get listed eventually," he says.

With the land and resources offered by local governments, and full support from banks, and bountiful private equity funds, China has indeed embraced the fast track for high-speed railways.

But this frenzy of construction is not expected to last forever, he says. "The country's large-scale railway construction will conclude after the 12th Five-Year Plan, and after that it will be just smaller projects that will fix the missing links in the network."