CHINA plans to invest over 2.8 trillion yuan (US$437.86 billion) to build more than 23,000 kilometers of railway lines over the next five years, domestic media reported Friday, citing industry sources.

    The Economic Information Daily said this was part of China’s 13th Five-Year Plan, a blueprint for economic and social development between 2016 and 2020, which Chinese leaders agreed on during a meeting last month.

    Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said the focus will be on inter-city projects as well as the central and western regions of the country, and that the Central Government will increase budgetary funds to support the sector.

    Almost 3.5 trillion yuan has been spent on China’s railway sector since 2011, far exceeding the 2.8 trillion yuan target from the country’s 12th Five-Year Plan, the newspaper said.

    The government has flagged it intends to spend more on infrastructure to avert a hard landing as the economy cools.

    The country’s total rail network, mostly built by State firms China Railway Group and China Railway Construction, is now 112,000 kilometers long. Its high-speed rail network, the world’s longest, is 16,000 kilometers long.

    (SD-Agencies)