(Yicai Global) Feb. 14 -- China accounts for two-thirds of the world's entire high-speed rail track following years of investment and construction, with the last half decade marking a high point.

China's overall length of high-speed lines is now 25,000 kilometers, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. The opening of several links in recent years has formed the high-speed network's backbone and connected East, Central, West and Northeast China, according to Lu Dongfu, general manager of China Railway Corp., the national railroad operator.

High-speed routes already linked economically-developed conurbations such as the Yangtze and Pearl River deltas and the Bohai Sea littoral in China's northeast. The country has pushed track-laying over the past five years, investing CNY4 trillion (USD620 billion) in fixed-rail assets from 2013 to 2017, with 29,400km of new lines now running, state-owned CRC's figures show. 

Building of new rail lines will continue, with 4,000km planned to go into operation, including 3,500km this year, Lu said. But the pace of investment is set to slow. On Jan. 1, the Beijing-based company said it plans to reduce fixed asset spending this year, targeting investment at CNY732 billion, down from the CNY801 billion it spent last year and below a CNY800 billion annual level it set in 2014.