The Ministry of Railways will further accelerate the speed of trains this year, one year ahead of schedule.

Liu Zhijun, vice-minister of railways, said on Wednesday that trains linking Beijing and Kowloon in Hong Kong, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, Hubei's Wuhan and Sichuan's Chengdu and Beijing and Guangzhou would see a new round of speed increases in the latter half of this year.

Most of those trains have been travelling at more than 120 kilometres per hour in recent years, and have the potential to go faster.

Liu did not give details of the new speeds, but said preparations were going well.

The ministry originally planned to launch the fourth nationwide speed-up in 2002, and had announced a 3.5 billion yuan (US$423 million) package for related renovations last year.

China has experienced three nationwide speed increases, in 1997, 1998 and 2000. Trains can now operate at 140 kilometres an hour along main tracks.

China has renovated 10,000 kilometres of tracks for high-speed operations, and the ministry predicts there are still 10,000-kilometres of track needing work to make them suitable for high-speed trains.

Meanwhile, the Vice-Minister of Railways Cai Qinghua said the ministry is planning to invest 350 billion yuan (US$42 billion) on railway construction between 2001 and 2005.

There are plans to build a 2,000-kilometre-long new track in western parts of China during the coming five years.

The nation's total rail network is expected to reach 75,000 kilometres by 2005.

Cai admitted the ministry still had a 200 billion yuan (US$24 billion) gap in its budget, and said they would get funds "through various measures" based on the market. He refused to say what those measures are.

Cai indicated that the highest railway in the world -the Qinghai-Tibet railway project -is expected to kick off in the second half of this year.

Date: 02/23/2001
GUO AIBING, China Daily staff