(Yicai Global) May 22 -- China's eastern province of Jiangsu plans to invest CNY477 billion (USD75 billion) into rail projects over the next 10 years as it looks to keep up pace with other developed provinces in high-speed transport.

Some CNY400 million will go toward 13 new railroads and the remainder will work its way into ongoing projects, it was said at the provincial rail development conference a few days ago. The meeting also birthed Jiangsu Railway Group Co., a new company devised to explore independent planning, construction operation of high-speed railroads.

Jiangsu is China's fourth-largest province by per-capita gross domestic product, but its high-speed rail network lags considerably behind other provinces and municipalities. It hopes the new money can expand this and keep its transport links on par with other regions.

Its rail tracks span 2,791 kilometers in total, ranking it 22nd nationwide. It comes in 11th in terms of high-speed coverage, with railroads stretching over 846 kilometers, but can't compare with neighboring provinces Zhejiang and Anhui, which each have only two prefecture-level cities without high-speed rail links. The annual operating mileage in Jiangsu is 35 kilometers per one million residents, ranking it 30th in the country. 

Editor: James Boynton