China meets annual railway-investment targets

China met its annual targets on increasing railway investment in 2017 as the authorities continued to promote railway construction.

China spent $123 billion on railway projects and put 1,887 miles of new track into operation in 2017, meeting its annual targets of investment and 1,304 miles of new lines, according to the China Railway Corporation.

By the end of 2017, total mileage of China’s railways in operation reached 78,914 miles. Among the total, high-speed railways rose to 15,534 miles from 13,670 miles at the end of 2016.

The growth of railway construction projects came at a time when the country is enduring continuous deceleration in the growth of fixed-asset investment.

In the first 11 months of 2017, fixed-asset investment grew 7.2 percent year-on-year, down from 8.3 percent during the same period of 2016.