Chinese railway system, which is at a strategic point of progress, has laid a good foundation for its future development. What course will the country take in its future development? The Ministry of Railway recently announced that in developing the Beijing-Shanghai express rail, China will mainly rely on its own efforts. Starting from a high point and based on high standards, China will try to build the high-speed railway system with its own intellectual property rights that might compete with the world's advanced technologies in rail construction. The announcement makes it clear that in building the Beijing-Shanghai express rail, China will hold the construction right firmly in its own hands.

 

An official from the Ministry of Railways also disclosed on Monday that construction work of the much-concerned Beijing-Shanghai express rail would start soon, and construction of ten other high-speed passenger rail lines would also kick off in the next two years. Since last year, China has already started the construction of 11 high-speed passenger rail lines, with the accumulative construction distance reaching 3,000 kilometers so far.

 

Construction of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway is only one of the typical examples of China's implementing the principle of "self-reliance, self-innovation, supplemented by absorbing advanced technologies from abroad" in railway construction. The principle clearly illustrates that in future, China will mainly rely on its own efforts in its railway construction. Advanced technologies will only be introduced in aspects that the country is incapable of accomplishing.

 

According to the Ministry of Railways, starting from April 18, 2007, China will boost the speed of its rail system for the sixth time. Passenger trains on ordinary lines can run at a speed of over 200 km an hour in maximum and the speed of trains running on trunk lines can reach 250 km an hour at some parts. This indicates that China's track trains will be running at a speed comparable to world advanced levels.

 

The most essential era will dawn in China's rail construction in the next four years, during which China will kick off the construction of more than 200 rail projects (28 being passenger rail lines), with the total investment estimated at more than 1 trillion yuan. The construction work is unprecedented in China's railway building history in regard to the scale, the standards applied, and the investment involved.

 

(Chinanews.cn November 22, 2006)