China to Upgrade Railway SystemThe Ministry of Railways has set an ambitious goal to establish an advanced technology-based railway network within the coming five years.According to today's China Daily, the ministry has earmarked an unspecified amount of funds to railway-related high-tech projects during the 2001-2005 period. The newspaper said that the ministry's top strategic objective is to establish an efficient nationwide railway production, management and administration network based on advanced technologies. Official sources were quoted as saying that many technological discoveries would be adopted on the Beijing-Shanghai express railway, and two other existing railways will be renovated to form a new express rail route connecting Beijing, Qinhuangdao and Shenyang. They said that major Chinese cities will be connected with a high-rail network on which trains travel 160 kilometers per hour. China's freight trains will be sped up to reach 120 kilometers per hour. The ministry also plans to establish a nationwide railway supervision network to ensure rail safety, to construct more railways in western China, and a major information network to list all its business information on the Internet and to offer on-line ticket sales. The ministry said that its long-term plan for the next 15 years will be focused on technology upgrading. |
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