China's railway investment soared 37.5 percent from January to July. The numbers are attributed to a building boom of high-speed lines and the country's desire to link together poor regions.

The investment reached 133.78 billion yuan (US$19.6 billion), the Ministry of Railways said yesterday. More people than ever are using railways. In the first seven months of the year trains carried 855.3 million passengers, up 12.6 percent from the same period last year. Cargo volume was 1.94 billion tons, up 6.8 percent from 2007.

(Shanghai Daily September 9, 2008)