China pledges high speed overseas rail development

China's top certification and accreditation authority on Tuesday pledged to work together with China's railway authority to promote overseas development of China's high-speed railway products and technologies.

The Certification and Accreditation Administration of China and the State-owned China Railway Co will cooperate to improve testing technologies to ensure the safety and quality of railway products, and promote international recognition of railway standards and certificates adopted by China, according to an agreement signed between the two parties ahead of the World Accreditation Day, which falls on Thursday.

The total length of high-speed railways in service in China exceeded 19,000 kilometers by the end of last year, the biggest high-speed network in the world. In addition, a total length of nearly 10,000 km of high-speed railways is under construction in China, according to China Railway.

Other countries, including Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Russia, the United States, Malaysia and Singapore, have adopted or are considering adopting Chinese products or technologies in their high-speed railway projects, the company said.

The Certification and Accreditation Administration of China has issued more than 12,000 certificates to testing laboratories and accreditation institutes involving railway products in China, the administration said. Many of the certificates are already recognized by most other countries, it said.