Workers at the construction site of the Jinhua-Taizhou railway in Zhejiang province. [Photo by Wang Huabin/For China Daily]

Ren Menggang, director of the Zhejiang Provincial Commission of Development and Reform, made a briefing on the province's progress and plans for railway construction at a railway-themed government conference on Dec 28.

More than 50 billion yuan ($7.66 billion) were invested in Zhejiang's railroads in 2020, 70 percent higher than the previous year, and a total of 560 kilometers in length were added to the province's rail network.

This year also saw the launch of numerous railway construction projects in the province, including the Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou Railway, the Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway, and the Quzhou-Lishui Railway.

Zhejiang currently has 11 railways under construction, which are expected to cost a total of 200-billion-yuan and span more than 1,000 kilometers upon completion.

Ren has stressed the importance of the "four 500s" scheme for the province's railways in 2021: at least 50 billion yuan in annual investment, construction on at least 500 km of new railways, opening at least 500 km of new railways to traffic, and extending current railroads by at least 500 km in length.