China Railway Corp targets $122b investment for third consecutive year

A driver enters a train cab for a trial run at the Harmi South Station in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. [Photo/China Daily]

China's national railway operator has set its full-year fixed-assets investment target at 800 billion yuan ($121.6 billion) for a third consecutive year, the China Business News reported on Monday.

Total fixed-asset investment is expected to reach 800 billion yuan this year, with passenger and freight capacity up 10 percent and 2 percent respectively, the newspaper quoted the firm's general manager Sheng Guangzu as saying at a work conference on Sunday..

The country will maintain railway investment and improve the railway construction of central and western regions, said Sheng.

Last year, total fixed-asset investment reached 823.8 billion yuan, with 9,531 kilometers of new railways, including 3,306 km high-speed rail lines, putting into use, according to the conference.

China took the top spot with high-speed rail extending over 19,000 kilometers by the end of last year, accounting for over 60 percent of global high-speed rail lines.

In 2016, the company will speed up the "going global" strategy, strengthen its international competitive edge and achieve new breakthroughs, Sheng added.

China Railway Corp is well prepared for the start of the long-awaited Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train project, according to the newspaper.

The construction of the Indonesia's first high-speed railway is awaiting the approval of its detailed engineering design and Environmental Impact Analysis, the Kompas, an Indonesian national newspaper, reported on Thursday.

If the two documents are approved, the ground-breaking for the high-speed railway project will be carried out on Jan 21 as scheduled.