Zhejiang to develop longest rail network

HANGZHOU: The country's largest high-speed rail network will be built in Zhejiang by 2012, as part of the efforts to invigorate the local economy, the province's top official said on Friday.

In his government work report to the provincial people's congress, Lu Zushan, governor of Zhejiang, said: "We want to complete the construction of this modern rail network within four years."

Li Zhihai, head of the provincial development and reform commission, told China Daily that the local government will spend 130 billion yuan ($19 billion) to develop the 1,200 km network, which, on completion, will be the longest in the country and account for almost 10 percent of China's total railways.