China will invest nearly 300 billion dollars in its overburdened rail system as a stimulus measure aimed at blunting the impact of the global financial crisis, state press said on Saturday.The investment is part of plans to extend the country's railway network from the current roughly 78,000 miles to nearly 100,000 miles by 2010, Shanghai's Oriental Morning Post reported.The Beijing News quoted a rail official as saying that, while the network needed extending, the massive investment of 292 billion dollars was also intended to help lift the nation's economy as it suffers amid the global woes.
China's railway network is one of the most extensive in the world, but has come under pressure as the nation's economy has boomed, giving millions more the opportunity to travel.Among them, more than 200 million migrant workers are estimated to have left their homes in the countryside for work in urban or coastal areas.The vulnerability of the rail network was laid bare last winter, when fierce snowstorms crippled China's transport systems, stranding millions of passengers trying to return to their homes during the peak Chinese New Year travel period.
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