Wang Linshu, MOR Chief Engineer, said at the Forum on Railway Development Strategy that once the new speed increases are implemented, China's high speed railway lines will increase to 16, 000 km from the current 13,000 km.

As an important part of "Modern Railway 2002", which opened in Beijing Wednesday, the forum has attracted over 120 railway experts from Germany, France, the United States and Japan.

Wang said that a national rail network will be completed by 2005, connecting all the major cities with Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou as the centers.

According to Wang, passenger trains between cities which are within 500 km from each other will depart at dawn and arrive at sunset; those within 1200-1500 km will depart at sunset and arrive at dawn; and within 2000-2500 km they will depart and arrive within 24 hours.

MOR said that China's railway sector has brought in speed increases and adjusted the train schedules four times, in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2001 respectively, covering almost all trunk lines in China.

With the four speed-increases, the average traveling speed has increased by 25 percent, and speed has been raised on 13,000 km of railway lines. Passenger trains running on the Beijing-Harbin, Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Guangzhou and Lianyungang-Lanzhou lines are operating at 140-160 km/h, and on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen line at 200 km/h.

According to Wang, by 2005, China will have 75,000 km of railway lines, 25,000 km of double-tracked lines, and 20,000 km of electrified lines.

China will also speed up railway construction in its western regions. According to Wang, 2,000 km of rail lines will be built in central and western China. By 2005, the Golmud-Lhasa section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will be built and the capacity of the Xining-Golmud section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway increased.

China is also preparing for building the Beijing-Shanghai high- speed railway, the chief engineer said.

(China Daily June 14, 2002)