BEIJING — China said it has tested a high-speed railway prototype, presenting President Xi Jinping with a technology he hopes will help transform China from one of the world’s poorest nations into a high-tech global power.
The state news agency Xinhua said the high-speed rail was developed at a cost of 880 million yuan ($120 million) and that it was the second of 13 high-speed railways with 5.4 million passengers planned to be tested by 2026.
The rail can travel 310 km (190 miles) per hour and can carry 155 passengers at a time, according to Xinhua.
“It can be considered an important revolutionary breakthrough, marking the completion of China’s high-speed rail engineering industry and signaling the (rail’s) big industrialization,” according to a report on China Railway Corp’s website.
Railways are one of China’s top investment priorities as it tries to transform itself from a low-tech factory economy into a developed country.