China's railway fixed-asset investment up 1.5 pct in first 8 months

BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's railway construction maintained steady momentum in the first eight months of 2026, with significant progress made on a number of key projects, the national railway operator said Wednesday.

Fixed-asset investment in the railway sector totaled 511.8 billion yuan (about 75.68 billion U.S. dollars) in the first eight months, up 1.5 percent year on year, according to China State Railway Group Co., Ltd.

The steady progress in railway construction has helped boost related industries and employment, injecting new momentum into the expansion of domestic demand and stable economic growth, the company said.

A number of key projects have recently made positive progress. For instance, the Wenling-Yuhuan section of the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou high-speed railway in east China's Zhejiang Province opened to traffic, putting Yuhuan, a city in southeastern Zhejiang, within 1 hour and 47 minutes of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang, by direct high-speed train.

The company said it will fully implement the railway construction tasks set out in the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), coordinate the planning and construction of new lines with the upgrading and capacity expansion of conventional railways, and continue to improve the quality and efficiency of railway investment to support high-quality economic and social development.

China has built the world's largest high-speed railway network. By the end of 2025, the country's total operating railway mileage had reached 165,000 km, including more than 50,000 km of high-speed rail.

According to the company, the country's operational railway mileage is expected to reach 180,000 km by 2030, including about 60,000 km of high-speed rail.