China on Wednesday inaugurated a 658-km high speed railway line cutting through a mountain range and connecting the terracotta warriors’ city of Xian in the northwest to Chengdu city in the southwest, taking the total high-speed network to more than 22,000 km. By 2016, China had built 22,000 km of high speed railway lines in about a decade, said to be the longest network in the world. India began work on its first high speed line, the 500-km link between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, this year. China has plans to build 38,000 km of high speed railway lines by 2025 and 45,000 km by 2030. The 22,000-km network includes nearly 10,000 km of high-speed railway bridges, state transport authorities said earlier this year.

Source: Hindustan Times December 06, 2017 11:37 UTC