China aims to break the world high-speed rail record in a trial run next year, Chinese manufacturing sources said in Beijing Tuesday.

China hopes to break the 574.8 km per hour speed record set by France's TGV high-speed train in April 2007, the sources said.

China's high-speed rail network has been developing quickly in recent years. A CRH-380A train on Friday set an operating speed record of 486.1 km per hour on a test run on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway.

As a modern transportation method, high-speed trains can travel at speeds as high as 350 kilometers per hour.

China operates a high-speed railway network with a combined length of 7,531 kilometers, the world's longest, said Chinese Railways Minister Liu Zhijun Tuesday.

While addressing the seventh World Congress on High Speed Rail held in Beijing, Liu said China's high-speed railways have been operating well, with reliable equipment and a good safety record.

Launched in 1992 by the International Unions of Railways (UIC), the congress exhibits the world's high-speed railway development. It is the first time the congress has been held outside Europe.

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2010)