China Plans Mega Rail Project to Link Asia and Europe

9 March 2010 (Last Updated March 9th, 2010 18:30)

China is in negotiations with 17 countries to expand its network to the whole of Asia and as far as Europe, the country's domestic high-speed rail project senior consultant Wang Mengshu has said. The plan is to develop a three-pronged high-speed rail network capable of running trains at

China is in negotiations with 17 countries to expand its network to the whole of Asia and as far as Europe, the country's domestic high-speed rail project senior consultant Wang Mengshu has said.

The plan is to develop a three-pronged high-speed rail network capable of running trains at 200mph within the next ten years, according to Telegraph.co.uk.

The plan includes building a network to link London, Beijing and Singapore, also running through India and Pakistan.

A second rail network would provide access through Russia to Germany and into the European railway system, and a third network would extend south to connect Vietnam, Thailand, Burma and Malaysia.

The cost of the South Asia line alone is expected to be $598m (£400m) and comes at a time when China is spending $718bn (£480bn) revamping its own domestic system.

Mengshu said the prospecting and survey work for the European network has already been carried out, with Central and Eastern European countries expressing interest.

"The Northern network will be the third one to start, although China and Russia have already agreed on a high-speed line across Siberia, where one million Chinese people live," Mengshu said.