Edited and translated by Liang Jun, People's Daily Online
By the end of 2012, China's high-speed railway mileage reached 9,356 kilometers, ranking first in the world and its total railway mileage reached 98,000 kilometers, ranking second in the world, according to the national railway conference held on Thursday.
Sheng Guangzu, minister of railways disclosed the information during the conference held in Beijing. He also said the passenger and freight turnover also top the world.
China's railway carried 1.9 billion passengers in 2012, increasing by 4.8 percent compared to the year of 2011 and 3.9 billion tons of cargo, basically the same as the previous year.
Some key projects also opened operation in 2012, including Harbin-Dalian high-speed railway which is the world's first high-speed rail in areas with extremely low temperature and Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway, which is world's longest high-speed rail with 35 stations in major Chinese cities.
According to the 12th Five-Year Plan, China will spend some 650 billion yuan in fixed assets investment in 2013, including 520 billion yuan in infrastructure facilities and construction of more than 5,200 kilometers of railways.
Read the Chinese version: 中国高铁运营里程世界首位
Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition; Author: Yan Bing
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