(Yicai Global) Aug. 9 -- China looks set to add 10 percent to its rail investment budget set at the start of this year, returning the country to a CNY800 billion (USD117 billion) spending target set in 2014.

The National Railway Administration has already made more investments than planned, Beijing-based newspaper China Business reported on Aug. 7, citing a source close to the regulator. The original target for 2018 was CNY732 billion, 8.5 percent below the benchmark.

Analysts had anticipated an increase after China's Politburo meeting on July 31, where officials proposed to make up for a deficiency in infrastructure. Many believe that new building will focus on central and western China, which are much less urbanized than the east, with targets including the Sichuan-Tibet and Yunnan-Tibet links.

Long-term national, provincial and municipal railway plans to 2035 have been revised as a result of the National Congress in October, the 21st Century Business Herald said, citing a planning expert at the administration. There will be a number of new projects added, he said.

Investments will not get out of hand, like in 2009 when CNY4 trillion (USD585 billion) was pumped into rail transport, the Herald cited Qin Jin, deputy director of Central South University's school of traffic and transportation engineering, as saying. But infrastructure spending is needed for stable economic development, he added.

Editor: James Boynton