China's railway investment to exceed $121b in 2017

A high-speed train heads to Ulanqab from Hohhot in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in August, marking the openning of the region's first high-speed railway. [Tang Zhe/For China Daily]

This year's fixed investment in the railway sector might exceed 800 billion yuan ($121.04 billion), a target set by China Railway at the beginning of 2017, Economic Information Daily reported Wednesday, citing unnamed industry source.

The source attributed his prediction?to current construction progress and the fact that generally the fourth quarter is a?peak season for railway building.

In the first eight months, fixed investment in the railway sector nationwide reached 453.6 billion yuan, up by 4.7 percent year-on-year, according to China Railway's data cited by the Economic Information Daily.

Currently, two major railway lines are under construction.

Construction on the Lianyungang-Xuzhou railway line, which is located in East China's Jiangsu province, has been underway since July 13. Construction on this line, which runs for 180.39 kilometers and is expected to cost 28.17 billion yuan, is projected to be finished by December 2020.

On Aug 8, construction on the Dunhua-Baihe railway started. This line, with a length of 113.5 kilometers, when finished four years later, will cut the travel time between Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, and the Changbai Mountain, a resort in Jilin province, to four hours.

Another railway line, the Chongqing-Kunming railway, with a length of 720 kilometers and an expected investment of 117 billion yuan, is expected to start within this year, according to the Economic Information Daily. The railway spans Chongqing municipality, Sichuan province, Guizhou province and Yunnan province.