China will have its fourth train speed-up in 2002, briefed a national meeting on railway work now held in Beijing.

To prepare for the fourth speed-up, the railway authority will inject 2 billion yuan, 1 billion yuan and 500 million yuan respectively into the speed-up project, operation security enforcement and communication along the railway.

A batch of projects will be tested in advance to ensure the smooth work.

China accelerated its railway transportation on April 1, 1997, October 1, 1998 and October 21, 2000, totalling 10,000 kilometers of tracks.

The improved railways have covered four vertical lines including Beijing-Haerbin, Beijing-Shanghai and Beijing-Kowloon, and two horizontal lines Shaanxi-Qinghai (Lanzhou-Xinjiang) and Zhejiang-Jiangxi.

The current speed for a nonstop express train is 140 kilometers per hour. Experts with the Ministry of Railways said half of the domestic 20,000 kilometers rails are adaptive for further speed acceleration.

During the past six months, the Ministry has made speed-up trial on the track lines from Beijing to Zhengzhou. The speed now reaches 200 kilometers per hour.

(Eastday.com 12/26/2000)