China to spend nearly half a trillion dollars on road, rail

SHANGHAI—China plans to spend nearly half a trillion dollars on ambitious plans to expand its road and railway networks in the coming years, state media said Thursday.
The government is to invest two trillion yuan (250 billion dollars) in expressways in the next 30 years and 1.5 trillion yuan (190 billion dollars) in railways within just four years, according to state press.
The plans were unveiled at a time when the nation’s transport infrastructure regularly shows signs of being stretched to the limit by a population of 1.3 billion increasingly mobile people.
To counter the problem, the government will build 85,000 kilometers (53,000 miles) of expressway in the next three decades, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the Ministry of Communications, or transportation ministry. At the same time, China plans its largest ever railway expansion, boosting its rail service capacity by 20 percent, the China Daily said, quoting Li Guoyang, an official with the the National Development and Reform Commission.
Li described the investment in the nation’s creaking rail system as the “biggest in China’s history,” adding that next year alone would see 300 billion yuan spent on tracks. He said altogether 600 billion yuan would be spent on rail lines, while 625 billion yuan would be spent on engineering and another 250 billion yuan on locomotive and carriage purchases.
China’s booming economy is struggling with serious transportation bottlenecks and railways are expected to play an important role in relieving the situation. The nation has about 75,000 kilometers to 100,000 kilometers (from 47,000 to 63,000 miles) of track.—APP