High-speed rail link expands beyond borders

Premier Li Keqiang is playing the role of "high-speed train ambassador" again during his ongoing visits in Europe as leading officials from China, Hungary, Serbia and Macedonia agreed on Wednesday to build a land-sea express route by expanding the Budapest-Belgrade rail line to Skopje, Athens and the major container port of Piraeus in Greece. The agreement follows the China-Thailand high-speed railway cooperative program that Thailand has approved.

The country's cooperation with a number of countries s to build a high-speed rail network connecting it with Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Europe and some other parts of the world will help reshape China's economic landscape and boost the regional economy.

By the end of 2013, China had a high-speed train network of more than 10,000 kilometers, the world's largest, which connected many major cities making travel and freight transport much faster and more convenient. By the end of 2015, the mileage is expected to reach 19,000 km.