China has plans to invest at least 493.2 billion yuan in new railway construction in the second half of 2016, Caixin reported. This push is being carried out in order to fulfill the country’s 800-billion-yuan goal for the year.

Fixed asset investment in China's railways from January to June 2016 amounted to 306.75 billion yuan – 27.47 billion yuan higher than in the same period last year, yielding a year-on-year increase of 9.8 percent, according to the China Railway Corporation (CRC).

National railway fixed assets investment consists of investment from both state railways and local railways. State railways fixed assets investment rose 10.4 percent year on year to 292.67 billion yuan; that of local railways came to 14.08 billion yuan.

Although CRC has only completed 38.34 percent of its total target for 2016, its investment situation is better than that in the same periods of 2014 and 2015, which had numbers of 29.39 and 35 percent respectively.

An employee from CRC told Caixin that the investment completed is better than expected, and total investment in 2016 might even set a record. The source said if the investment scale continues this year, then annual investment in fixed assets is capable not only of exceeding last year’s 823.8 billion yuan, but even of surpassing 2010’s 842.65 billion yuan.

National railway fixed assets investment has achieved four consecutive years of growth, and growth in the last two years was more than 800 billion yuan. Previous reports have stated that China plans to invest at least 3.8 trillion yuan ($538 billion) in new railway construction during the country's 13th Five-Year Plan period. This capital would push China's railroads to a record 150,000 kilometers, and high-speed rails to 30,000 kilometers, Caixin Media quoted from a draft proposal by transportation authorities.