Some passenger trains in China will be able to run at speeds surpassing 160 km per hour beginning April 18 along a combined length of 7,700 km, and the top speed can be 200 km per hour in some sections, Vice-Minister of Railways Hu Yadong said Thursday.

Hu said at a press conference on the country's large-scale railway acceleration that the average speed of passenger trains will reach 65.7 km per hour, up 4.3 km per hour. Freight trains will also run faster.

Among the passenger trains, the speed of direct express trains will reach 119.2 km per hour and that of express trains will reach 92.8 km per hour on the average, he said.

This will be the fifth time for China to accelerate its trains, Hu said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 9, 2004)