File photo taken on Dec 1, 2012 shows a bullet train departing from Dalian on the Harbin-Dalian high-speed railway, Northeast China's Liaoning province.

"Building more high-speed railways" has been a hot topic at the annual sessions of China's provincial legislatures and political advisory bodies intensively held in January.

China has the world's largest high-speed rail network, with the total operating length reaching 19,000 km by the end of 2015, about 60 percent of the world's total.

The expanding high-speed rail network is offering unprecedented convenience and comfort to travelers, and boosting local development as well.

Chinese companies have developed world-leading capabilities in building high-speed railways in extreme natural conditions.

High-speed railway routes across China have been designed to suit its varying climate and geographical conditions.

The Harbin-Dalian high-speed railway travels through areas where the temperature drops to as low as -40 C in winter, the Lanzhou-Xinjiang railway passes through the savage Gobi Desert and the Hainan Island railway can withstand a battering from typhoons.

The China Railway Corp plans to spend another 800 billion yuan (around $120 billion) in 2016, especially in less-developed central and western regions. [Photo/Xinhua]