China has ambitious plans to build an extensive high speed rail network by 2020. The country already tops the world in terms of the length of high speed rail lines in operation.

At a press conference held Saturday on the sidelines of the ongoing NPC session, the Vice Minister of Railways, Wang Zhiguo said China has currently more than 6500 kilometers of operational high speed railways. The country aims to double the network to 13,000 kilometers by 2012, and to reach 16 thousand by 2020. The official says China's home-grown high-speed rail technology has reached advanced international levels, and the country is in talks with dozens of countries on potential opportunities in overseas cooperation.

Wang Zhiguo said, "With the operation of our three high speed railways, including one between Beijing and Tianjin, one between Wuhan and Guangzhou and one between Zhengzhou and Xi'an, our high speed railway system has gained strong feedback internationally. As a result, we've grown the potential for international cooperation on railway construction. At present, dozens of countries, including the US, Russia, Brazil and Turkey, have expressed willingness to cooperate with our country in building railway projects in their countries. Some of the projects have already been implemented."