State-owned China Railway Corporation announced that it will increase its investment in fixed assets this year to CNY 660 billion. Xinhua, the official news agency, reported that the national railway operator had already closed CNY 261.7 billion worth of investments in the first seven months of this year. Compared to the same period last year, this represented a 1.6% increase. While Xinhua gave no details on funding sources, it did say that the company would be building new rail lines. This year, the railway operator would be putting up 5,500 km of lines so that by the end of 2013, there would be more than 100,000 km of total lines in service.
China's government had earlier promised to shore up its economy by boosting railway investment. It also announced the launching of a railway development fund. While initial money for the said fund will come from the central government, it will also work to attract private sector investors.
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