China to invest $113b in railway in 2018

China set the goal to make a total of 732 billion yuan ($112.55 billion) in fix-assets investment in railway construction in 2018, according to a report by Security Daily, citing China Railway Corporation.

About 702 billion yuan of the total amount will be used to build 4,000 km of new rail tracks, including 3,500 kilometers in high-speed railways next year.

The number of railway tourists is expected to reach 3.25 billion in 2018 and annual freight volume is expected to reach 3.02 billion metric tons.

By 2020, China plans to expand the total mileage of the nation's railways in operation to 150,000 km, covering most cities with a population larger than 200,000.

Among the total, high-speed railways will rise to 30,000 km by 2020 and connect more than 80 percent of major Chinese cities.

Hu Xinyi contributed to the story.