September 11 (Xinhua) — According to a message on the "China Railway" WeChat public account, from January to August this year, railway construction advanced with high quality and efficiency, with fixed asset investment in railways nationwide reaching 477.5 billion yuan, up 10.5% year on year, and the building of a modern railway infrastructure system accelerated.

Since the beginning of this year, China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. has proactively served national strategies and regional economic and social development, advanced railway construction with high quality and efficiency, strengthened construction organization and safety management, and strictly implemented ecological and environmental protection measures, ensuring project progress and quality, effectively leveraging the driving role of railway construction investment, and injecting strong momentum into economic and social development.

Entering August, key railway projects progressed smoothly: the Zhenjiangguan-Huangshengguan section of the Sichuan-Qinghai Railway opened to traffic, greatly facilitating passengers' access to famous scenic areas such as Huanglong and Jiuzhaigou; the Xuancheng-Jixi High-Speed Railway, the Huinong-Yinchuan section of the Baotou-Yinchuan High-Speed Railway, the Meizhou West-Longchuan West section of the Longyan-Longchuan High-Speed Railway, and the Chongqing West-Yibin East section of the Chongqing-Kunming High-Speed Railway began trial operation, and the Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou High-Speed Railway started static acceptance; a number of key control projects made major progress, with the Nanjing South Tunnel of the Nanjing-Wuhu Railway renovation project entering shield tunneling construction, the Wujiayuan Tunnel of the Xi'an-Yan'an High-Speed Railway holed through, and all tunnels on the Chongqing East-Qianjiang section of the Chongqing-Xiamen High-Speed Railway holed through.

Next, China State Railway Group will earnestly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Party and the Second and Third Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Committee, take comprehensively deepening reform as the driving force, focus on improving the overall functions and benefits of the railway network, advance projects to connect, complete and strengthen the network, carefully organize the construction of projects under way, accelerate preliminary work on key projects, and make positive contributions to consolidating and strengthening the momentum of economic recovery and improvement.