After record levels of expansion over the past few years, China’s high-speed rail network – already the world’s largest – is set for further upgrades, as Beijing pledges to improve services and lower logistics costs over the coming half a decade.
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China added 10,000km of operational high-speed rail tracks between 2021 and 2024, putting the nation on track to reach its goal of 50,000km by the end of the year, Minister of Transport Liu Wei said at a press conference in Beijing on Monday.
“The operating mileage of China’s high-speed rail has reached 48,000km, accounting for over 70 per cent of the world’s total high-speed rail mileage and covering 97 per cent of cities nationwide with populations over 500,000,” Liu said.
The network has grown rapidly in recent years, broadening domestic travel options, reducing logistics costs and creating opportunities to export cutting-edge Chinese technology.
The latest addition – a section connecting Chongqing to Hubei province’s Qianjiang – opened late last month. The segment is part of a strategic line that will eventually link the southwestern city to Xiamen in the southeast, enhancing connectivity between inland areas and the coast.
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China’s national railway hit a record 2.24 billion passenger trips in the first half of 2025, a 6.7 per cent increase from the year before, according to official data released last week.
An Lusheng, deputy director of the National Railway Administration, who also attended Monday’s conference, attributed the growth to rising demand for travel as the economy improves – as well as better service quality and stronger network capacity.