High-speed rail takes China's holiday strain

Huang Yongan took half as long as usual to return to his hometown in Jiangxi Province.

"It's amazing," said the IT technician who works in Beijing.

Before the high-speed rail line reached his small town, the 1,500-km journey used to take 14 hours in a congested train trip or a worse ride on a long-distance coach.

Huang's memory is typical for Chinese returning home for Spring Festival: anxiety, chaos and discomfort.

However, hundreds of millions of Chinese were much relieved in their home-returning trips this year thanks to the rapidly expanding high-speed railway network.

More than 60 percent of all the trains serving the rush are now high-speed with spacious seats, running at speeds up to 350 kilometers per hour, said the China Railway Corp. (CRC).

This year, the Chinese are expected to make 2.91 billion passenger trips across the country, a record high.

China has spent heavily on the high-speed railway network which is already the world's largest. Around 3,300 km of new lines opened last year, bringing the total operating length to 19,000 km and completing the major frame of the network.

The CRC plans to spend another 800 billion yuan (around 120 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, especially in less-developed central and western regions. Construction of more lines linking key cities will be accelerated. Endi