China's electric railway mileage exceeds 48,000 km

BEIJING - China's electric railway mileage has surpassed 48,000 kilometers, ranking first in the world, the China Railway Engineering Corporation Railway Electrification Bureau Group Co Ltd (EEB) said Tuesday.

It achieved the goal with the operation of a 921-kilometer electric railway line connecting the northeastern cities of Harbin and Dalian. The line is also the world's fastest rail line in regions with extremely low temperatures.

Wang Zuoxiang, head of the EEB technology department, said the country started to build electric railways in 1958, and in just over half a century, the mileage has exceeded that of Russia, the former country with the most electric railway mileage.

There are 68 countries and regions with electric railways. Behind China, the leading ones are Russia with 43,300 kilometers, Germany with 21,013 kilometers, India with 18,810 kilometers, Japan with 16,965 kilometers and France with 15,217 kilometers.

According to the 12th Five-year plan for railway development, China will have around 120,000 kilometers of railway in operation -- 60 percent of which will be electric -- by the end of 2015.