China's Transport Ministry will invest around 800 billion yuan ($A152 billion) to build 8600km of rail track to expand its rail network, state-owned Xinhua news agency reports.

Vice Minister of transport Yang Yudong said China will spend 3.5 trillion yuan in 35 railway projects during its five-year plan (2016-2020), according to Xinhua.

The construction will begin with 4000 km of electrified lines, 2500 km of double-track lines and 2100 km of new rail lines in the country’s central and western regions that are socially and economically underdeveloped.

The budget assigned by the China Railway Corporation to improve the rail network in 2017 is the same as for 2016, when China completed 124,000km of railway network, including 22,000 km of high-speed rail track.

China’s high-speed railway network is expected to extend by up to 30,000km by 2020, connecting more than 80 per cent of its big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Tianjin.