The national railway operator of China announced in a report on April 9, 2014 that it is all set to launch 48 new rail lines in 2014. The latest development represents a significant increase from the 44 projects which were originally budgeted at the beginning of 2014.
The general manager of the China Railway Corp, Sheng Guangzu in a report said, “Based on the demands from social and economic development and rail transport, we have decided that 48 new projects … will be launched this year”. Guangzu went on to say that over 7,000 kilometers of brand new lines will become operational in 2014. Moreover, an extra 20 billion yuan will be added to the earlier budget for the railway fixed asset investment in 2014.
The earlier plan was set at the beginning of 2014 with a budget of 700 billion yuan in fixed asset investments. The China Railway Corp said that 44 new projects will have 6,600 km of new rail lines.
Sheng made remarks following reports that building of the new lines was halted or abandoned because of financial difficulties in the railway sector. During the NPC meeting in 2014, Sheng denied claims that the company is asking for government remission of about 2.6 trillion yuan.
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