A train runs on the Lanzhou-Xinjiang high-speed railway line in Shandan county of Zhangye city, Northwest China's Gansu province, July 13, 2016. The 1,776-kilometer track linking Lanzhou, capital of Gansu, and Urumqi, capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, is one of the major passages for China's Belt and Road Initiative. [Photo/Xinhua]

An engine for the Belt and Road Initiative

China is also working on next-generation bullet trains with a maximum speed of 400 km per hour. They will be ready by 2020 for markets linked to the Belt and Road Initiative.

The country's high-speed railroads spanned 22,340 km by the end of last year, accounting for more than 60 percent of the world's total. Some 1 billion passengers traveled by high-speed trains in China last year, more than half of the world's total.