The railways in China will increase from current 73,000 kilometers to 100,000 kilometers by 2020 and the multiplied and electrified trunk line will reach 50 percent respectively, according to a senior Chinese official Thursday.

Hu Yadong, vice minister of railways, said this during the three-day International Service Industries Convention and Expo.

From now to 2020, the Ministry of Railways will build 12,000 kilometers passenger railway in big and middle cities and 16,000 in the middle and western part, Hu said.

He said the Ministry will also build special railways for coal transportation, and realize trunk line electrification of 16,000 kilometers.

As the speed of main passenger's trunk line has been increased to 200 kilometers per hour, the Ministry will launch fregit trains of 120 kilometers per hour, Hu said.

At present China has railways of 73,000 kilometers, which sends out passengers of one billion person-times and two billion tons of goods. That is to say, six percent of the world's railways have done 24 percent of transportation of the world.

(Xinhua News Agency July 2, 2004)