A network of high-speed lines, linking secondary routes to major ones, is on track to be completed by 2015, an official said a day before the first train departs on the world's longest high-speed line on Wednesday.
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The 2,298-km line will connect Beijing and Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province. Trains will hurtle along the track at 300 km per hour.
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The country's high-speed railway network will reach 50,000 km by 2020, with four north-south and four east-west main lines as the major routes.
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The Beijing-Guangzhou line is one of the main north-south routes. Another major route, the Beijing-Shanghai line, opened in June 2011.
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Zhao Chunlei, deputy head of the transport bureau of the Ministry of Railways, said that the other lines are under construction but all will be completed by 2015.
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Though the construction of high-speed lines slowed after a deadly train accident in July 2011 that killed 40 people, he described the current pace of construction as "quite fast".
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Once the Beijing-Guangzhou line opens on Wednesday, the length of high-speed lines will reach 9,349 km, according to the ministry.
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The past 12 months saw some 3,000 km of high-speed lines put into operation.
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"The pace (of railway construction) is in accordance with the economy. Also, transport infrastructure should be built in advance," Zhao said.Â