Kit is reported that China is in global negotiations to spread its high speed railway network to reach 17 nations.
On Friday, the official Chinese media widely quoted an unnamed railway spokesman saying that Beijing wants to expand this network in a project involving 17 nations.
Mr Wang Mengshu, a member of the State-run Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that Beijing envisages the network reaching Asia and Europe by 2025.
Mr Wang said “Many problems such as discrepancies in track gauge, line direction and expense allocations are under discussion with the related countries.”
He said that the under-construction Southeast Asian line is mapped from Kunming near northeast India’s border with China up to Singapore.
From the ancient Silk Road city of Urumqi, capital of the northwest Xinjiang province bordering parts of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the railroad could connect Kazakhastan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan with Germany. Along China’s border with Russia, the city of Heilongjiang could connect to eastern and southern Europe via Russia.
Production targets for bullet trains made in China with foreign collaborations are being pushed to meet this domestic demand.
By 2013, China will have the world’s biggest high speed railway network and 800 bullet trains, compared to none until 2008. By 2012, China will have 42 high-speed rail lines