BEIJING — China's fixed-asset investment in railways was 748.9 billion yuan (about $117.4 billion) in 2021, as the construction of more rail lines began during the period, data from China State Railway Group Co Ltd shows.

In 2021, a total of 4,208 kilometers of new rail lines were put into production, including 2,168 kilometers of high-speed tracks.

By the end of last year, the operating length of China's high-speed railway network exceeded 40,000 kilometers, as major projects began operations as scheduled.

The Anqing-Jiujiang section of high-speed railway, which was put into service last week, is the most recent section of railway to begin operations in China.

With its launch, Hefei, capital city of East China's Anhui province, and Nanchang, capital of East China's Jiangxi province, are directly connected by high-speed railway services.

The travel time between the two cities has been cut to 2 hours and 22 minutes.