People’s Daily recently reported that, with the completion of the newly planned 4,715 kilometers of high speed railway for the year 2011, the entire Chinese high speed railway system will cover a total of 13,000 kilometers, forming a national network. In the next five years, half of the planned railways will be high speed railways. The current high speed network covers 18 provinces. It is the world’s largest high speed railway system in terms of total mileage. According to the Ministry of Railways, electronic ticketing will be completed this year. The high speed railway system is expected to be the primary form of railroad transportation. The Ministry also believes that the massive construction project will not cause a “debt crisis” despite the lack of profitability on many of today’s routes.
Source: People’s Daily, January 24, 2011
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