Private capital encouraged to invest in railways

The central government on Monday published detailed plans to innovate railway funding and speed up railway construction as the new leadership is devoted to deepening reforms.

The State Council said in a statement that railway investment this year is likely to exceed the planned amount. Also, for this year and the following two years, the central government will provide transitional subsidies for China Railway Corp, established in March after a separation of the now-defunct ministry of railways' government and enterprise functions.

These measures are expected to strengthen growth in the world's second-largest economy, which slowed to 7.5 percent in the second quarter of this year.