At a State Council briefing on accelerating a modern integrated transport system, the National Railway Administration said rail development in the 15th Five‑Year Plan period will aim to basically achieve modernization and follow an "appropriately front‑loaded, not excessive" investment stance. It will prioritize safety upgrades, coordinated network layout, digital/intelligent upgrades, green transition, integration and system governance, and will push ahead a batch of major engineering projects.

At a State Council briefing on accelerating a modern integrated transport system, the National Railway Administration said rail development in the 15th Five‑Year Plan period will aim to basically achieve modernization and follow an "appropriately front‑loaded, not excessive" investment stance. It will prioritize safety upgrades, coordinated network layout, digital/intelligent upgrades, green transition, integration and system governance, and will push ahead a batch of major engineering projects. The administration said it will accelerate closing network gaps and removing bottlenecks to build a broad‑coverage, well‑structured, fully functional and efficiently integrated modern railway network, shifting from basic adaptation to a phase of quality and efficiency improvement, and will support regional coordination, major regional strategies, new‑type urbanization and rural revitalization.