A stewardess places paper cutting on the window of the high-speed train G2505, which stops at Zhangjiakou Highspeed Railway Station in Zhangjiakou, North China's Hebei province on Monday. The high-speed railway line went into service on Monday. Photo: Xinhua

The investment in fixed railway assets nationwide reached 802.9 billion yuan ($115.29 billion) in 2019 and more is expected in 2020 amid a drive for reform and refinancing, state-owned China State Railway Group Co (China Railway) said on Thursday.

According to the report sent by China Railway to the Global Times on Thursday, more than 139,000 kilometers of railways were in operation in 2019. 

It is notable that 35,000 kilometers are high-speed rails. 

The funds of local governments and enterprises in railway infrastructure investment reached 209.5 billion yuan in 2019, up 31.3 percent since 2016, China Railway said in its report.

With the deepening reform of the investment and financing system for railways, projects such as the Beijing-Xiongan intercity railway and Haoji Railway attracted 11.7 billion yuan of non-governmental investment in 2019, according to the report. 

In 2020, more than 4,000 kilometers of new lines will go into operation, the China Railway report said.

Wei Jigang, a research fellow with the Development Research Center of the State Council, China's cabinet, told the Global Times on Thursday that "railway reform needs to be deepened to make relevant market players and social capital feel that their investment in the sector will pay off."

Through studying and formulating the operation plan for improving joint ventures, the operating and holding joint venture companies in China's railway system realized operating revenue of 378.5 billion yuan in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 15.2 percent, according to China Railway.

"China's railway development is adopting an open attitude, and it has completely opened to social capital, and it may likely open to foreign capital as well in the future," Wei said.