China has world's largest high-speed rail network (2)

BEIJING , Feb. 28, 2016 (Xinhua) -- File photo taken on June 24, 2011 shows Beijing South Railway Station, northern terminal of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway in Beijing, capital of China. "Building more high-speed railways" has been a hot topic at the annual sessions of China's provincial legislatures and political advisory bodies intensively held in January. China has the world's largest high-speed rail network, with the total operating length reaching 19,000 km by the end of 2015, about 60 percent of the world's total. The expanding high-speed rail network is offering unprecedented convenience and comfort to travelers, and boosting local development as well. Chinese companies have developed world-leading capabilities in building high-speed railways in extreme natural conditions. High-speed railway routes across China have been designed to suit its varying climate and geographical conditions. The Harbin-Dalian high-speed railway travels through areas where the temperature drops to as low as 40 degree Celsius below zero in winter, the Lanzhou-Xinjiang railway passes through the savage Gobi Desert and the Hainan Island railway can withstand a battering from typhoons. The China Railway Corp. plans to spend another 800 billion yuan (around 120 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, especially in less-developed central and western regions. (Xinhua/Ma Wenxiao)