China's Rail Construction Boom  

The China Daily has an article on massive railway construction in China - Blueprint of railways development (via POD). The investment amounts to $60 billion in new rail projects announced in Sept/Oct, $77 billion spent on rail in the last 5 years, $515 billion to be invested in the next three years, and 150 rail projects under construction worth $235 billion.

China has long had plans for laying 120,000 km worth of railways by 2020, but as the global economic slowdown begins to bite, it looks as though the money will be spent faster than planned to help speed flagging economic growth in China.

In September and October, the Ministry of Railways announced eight new railway projects in various parts of the country. Their investment has added up to 405 billion yuan, equaling 78 percent of the total investment that China poured into railway construction from 2003 to 2007.

In the past five years, the total investment for the railway infrastructure was 522 billion yuan, Minister Liu Zhijun told a working conference in January.

The start-up of the eight railway projects in a short period of time is the beginning of a railway construction boom.

The ministry's planning department chief Yang Zhongmin says about 3.5 trillion yuan will be invested on railway projects in next three years.

At present, 150 railway projects are under construction, involving an investment of 1.6 trillion yuan, he says.