Economic Observer Online
Sept 6, 2012
Translated by Tang Xiangyang
Original article: [Chinese]

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has approved 25 subway and light railway construction projects in 19 cities over recent days with total investment in the projects set to exceed 800 billion yuan.

Two intercity railway projects, one in Inner Mongolia and the other in Jiangsu Province, have also been approved according to information published on the official website of the peak economic planning agency.

The 19 cities include urban centers such as Suzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Qingdao, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

The NDRC also announced that the country will establish three intercity fast transportation networks based on rail transit and expressways. The three city groups are: Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province, the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta.

"Currently 28 cities have or are constructing subways or light rail projects. Twelve of them have already have operating rail transit systems," Huang Min (黄民), director of an office in charge of infrastructure development at the NDRC said.

It's predicted that by the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan in 2015, there will be 3,000 kilometers of subway or light rail lines in China.

According to China City Rail Transit Association (中国城市轨道交通协会), by 2015, the entire investment in subways and light rail will reach 1.2 trillion yuan. By 2020, 40 cities in China will have subway lines in operation and the total length of subway lines will reach 7,000 kilometers, 4.3 times the current amount.

According to an article in today's Shanghai Securities Journal, it's clearly stated that local governments will be responsible for financing the construction intercity railway lines.

"As the financing body shifted (from the Ministry of Transportation) to local governments, they will have more room to make decisions. This will promote the development of intercity railway systems," Li Liancheng (李连成), director of the Transportation Economics and Technology Department under the NDRC, told a journalist from the Shanghai Securities Journal.

Links and Sources
The Beijing News: 发改委集中批准城市轨道项目批准18个城市的轨道交通项目、2个城际铁路规划及1个铁路增线项目
Shanghai Securities Journal: 发改委日批25条城轨 轨交建设再掀高潮
NDRC: 重点项目