Railways Minister Liu Zhijun said 1.64bn passenger journeys would be made on China’s rail network in 2010, up 7.6 per cent from last year. Freight traffic is set to increase 5.4 per cent to 3.5bn tonnes.

The network length totalled 86,000km at the end of 2009, second only to the US. A further 33,000km is under construction, funded by a massive fiscal stimulus package. Railway investment in 2009 alone was Rmb600bn, an increase of 79 per cent on the previous year and more than the entire 1995-2005 period. Mr Liu said China would invest Rmb823.5bn in the railways in 2010, including about Rmb700bn on infrastructure.