The plan was jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Transport, National Railway Administration and the China Railway Corporation on Nov. 24.

According to the plan, China will operate 150,000 kilometers of railways by 2020, including 30,000 kilometers of high-speed railways.

To better serve the “going-out” of railways, China will build the China-Europe freight trains into a world-famous logistics brand with international competitiveness and positive goodwill, and also an important platform for promotion of the Belt and Road construction. A batch of freight train hubs and nodes are planned to be built in major sources of supply, major railway terminals and important ports and land ports.

A more efficient and convenient comprehensive service system of China-Europe freight trains will be formed to further lower the logistics cost and promote the facilitation of customs clearance, according to the plan.

The plan lists the major projects for enhancement of connectivity with neighboring countries, including the completion of the Tongjiang Railway Bridge, the planning and construction of Ruili, Mohan and Dongxing Railway Ports, the planning and research of the China sections of China-Pakistan Railway and China-Kyrghyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway, etc.

Railways has become China’s new name card in foreign exchanges and cooperation, and it is also an important field of jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative. Chinese enterprises of railway construction, equipments and transportation have actively expanded the international market. The Ankara–Istanbul high-speed railway of Turkey and the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway of Kenya have started operation. The Jakarta-Bandung Railway, Hungary-Serbia railway and China-Laos Railway have all achieved progress in the past few years.