Li champions high-speed rail on visit to Zhuzhou

Premier Li Keqiang asked workers to ensure the quality of Chinese high-speed railways and safeguard the reputation of made-in-China equipment on a visit Friday to a local electric locomotive manufacturer in Zhuzhou, Hunan province.

Li said he regards production quality as the lifeline of Chinese railways, saying domestic products are competitive due to their high cost-effectiveness.

"The quality of our products has to be guaranteed by the joint efforts of both frontline workers and industrial experts," Li told railway workers during a visit to the CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co Ltd, a leading domestic manufacturer of the industry.

"Every time I visited a foreign country, I introduce your products to leaders of their government. I hope I can see more of your products in future trips abroad," he said.

The CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co has been exporting high-speed railway coaches to Malaysia since 2010. It set up a maintenance center in the country for after-sale service and is building up a production center to cover the ASEAN market. The Zhuzhou company also has been sending narrow-gauge subway cars to Turkey as of this year.

Li actively promotes Chinese railway products and technology on his overseas trips.

In Africa last month, Li signed several deals regarding railway construction and equipment export. In Ethiopia, a rail line stretching 740 kilometers to link the capital, Addis Ababa, with Djibouti's capital is being built to Chinese standards and will be completed by the end of next year and cost $4 billion.

A 480-km line linking Mombasa and Nairobi, two major cities in Kenya, will be built by a Chinese company to improve Kenya's economic efficiency.

It will be the first stage of an East African railway network that will stretch 2,700 km to connect the capital cities of most of the region's countries.