According to reports, China will invest approximately $154.88 billion (1 trillion yuan) during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025) to expand the railway network in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region. According to the report, this investment will add 4,200 kilometers to the region's railway network, bringing it to 17,000 kilometers.
By 2025, the high-speed network will add 3,500 kilometers to reach 9,500 kilometers, while the total rail transit network will grow to more than 22,000 kilometers. The report added that railway construction investment in the Yangtze River Delta region this year may reach $11.64 billion (75 billion yuan).
The Yangtze River Delta region refers to the major metropolitan area centered on Shanghai. It is one of China's largest economic centers. China aims to expand the network to about 200,000 kilometers by the end of 2035 to support urbanization and boost local economies. The plan includes expanding the high-speed railway network to 70,000 kilometers. Earlier in 2021, China unveiled a high-speed maglev train capable of reaching a maximum speed of 600 km/h.
The new train, said to be the world's fastest maglev transportation system, will cover the distance from Shenzhen in South China to Shanghai in about 2.5 hours. This high-speed vehicle can be configured with trains of 2 to 10 cars, each carrying more than 100 commuters. By 2020, China's total railway mileage was about 141,400 kilometers, including 36,000 kilometers of high-speed railway.