China's largest scale railway speed increase a success

Since China launched its largest scale railway speed increase a month ago, no major accidents have occurred and the whole railway system has been operating quite well, according to the Ministry of Railways.

This was the fifth large-scale railway speed increase taken by China since 1997 and it involved adding over 3,500 kilometers of new lines into its express railway network and raising the speeds of its major lines to 160 kilometers per hour.

China takes speed acceleration as an important strategy to accelerate the railway's development. During the first month after this year's railway acceleration, 99.8 percent of all passenger trains left their stations punctually and 96.1 percent reached their destinations on time.

During the first speed increase in 1997, China raised the speeds of major lines linking Beijing with other big cities to 140 kilometers per hour, which was the fastest speed at that time.

Source: Xinhua