BEIJING -- China's electrified rail network reached 24,000 kilometers after the Zhejiang-Jiangxi electrified railway went into use this month, making it the second largest such network after Russia.

Running 942 kilometers, the new electrified railway stretches from east China's Zhejiang Province to the central Jiangxi Province via Hunan province.

It is the first existing railway to be converted into an electrified line.

Electrified railways are more efficient and cleaner than those powered by coal or oil.

Journey times from eastern areas to remote mid-western areas had been greatly curtailed, which was bound to benefit China's strategies to develop the west and the central regions, said Huang Guizhang, director of Nanchang Railway Bureau.

Ministry of Railways (MOR) figures show that by the end of this month, China will have 49 electrified railways, accounting for 27 percent of the total and transporting 43 percent rail freight.

China is expected to see its electrified railways reach 50,000 kilometers by 2020, according to the MOR.