China Railway Fixed Asset Investment Hits RMB 440.6 Billion in First Seven Months of 2026, Up 1.8%

From January to July 2026, China's railway fixed asset investment reached RMB 440.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1.8%. The China State Railway Group focused on supporting major national strategies and regional economic development, steadily advancing the network strengthening initiative and promoting railway planning and construction in a scientific and orderly manner. In the first half of the year, 355.2 kilometers of new lines were put into operation.

In July, a number of key projects made positive progress. The Foshan station of the Guangzhou-Zhanjiang High-Speed Railway began operations, reducing travel time between downtown Guangzhou and Foshan to as little as 18 minutes. The Xi'an-Ankang High-Speed Railway launched full-line testing. The Harbin-Tieli-Yichun High-Speed Railway completed joint commissioning and trial runs. Track laying was finished on the Shanxi section of the Xiong'an-Xinzhou High-Speed Railway. The Fenhu tunnel on the Nantong-Ningbo High-Speed Railway started ballastless track construction. All box girders were installed on the Ankang-Chongqing section of the Xi'an-Chongqing High-Speed Railway. The Caiyuanba Yangtze River railway tunnel on the Chongqing-Xiamen High-Speed Railway was holed through.

A number of controlling projects also advanced steadily. On the Jiaozuo-Pingdingshan Railway, the main pier of the Qinqin River super major bridge completed 16 ultra-long piles, each 108 meters in length. On the Zhejiang Quzhou-Lishui Railway, the Qujiang super major bridge's swivel continuous girder crossing the Shanghai-Kunming Railway was accelerated, with a swivel weight of 24,000 tonnes. On the Shaanxi Yan'an-Yulin Railway, the Jiulishan tunnel advanced beyond 7,000 meters; located in the loess plateau hilly and gully region, its shallowest burial depth is only about 2 meters.

On July 21, the State Council Information Office held a press conference under the theme "A Strong Start to the 15th Five-Year Plan." Wang Qiming, spokesperson for the National Railway Administration, stated that efforts will be made to strengthen corridor layouts along rivers, coasts, and borders, advance cross-regional strategic corridors, enhance cross-river, cross-sea, and cross-bay connections, and improve a diversified and resilient cross-border railway corridor system. Next steps include accelerating the completion of the "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed railway main corridors, advancing connector lines in key regions in an orderly manner, improving commuter capacity in major city clusters and metropolitan areas, filling gaps in the western network, strengthening energy and grain transport corridors, and easing bottlenecks on busy trunk lines.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, annual railway fixed asset investment reached RMB 748.9 billion, RMB 710.9 billion, RMB 764.5 billion, RMB 850.6 billion, and RMB 901.5 billion respectively, totaling RMB 3.976 trillion over five years, with an average annual investment of about RMB 795.3 billion. The China State Railway Group said it will coordinate new line planning and construction with the upgrading and capacity expansion of conventional railways, balance railway planning, construction, and operation, accelerate preliminary work on key projects, scientifically optimize construction organization for projects under way, and continuously improve the quality and efficiency of railway investment to ensure the completion of annual construction tasks.