China plans to input a total of 160 billion yuan (about 20 billion US dollars) on railway construction in 2006, Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun said in Beijing Friday.

At the national railways working conference in Beijing, Liu said the construction of 13 new express passenger rail routes will start this year, with the pace of another 11 rail routes under way to be accelerated.

The year 2006 will witness a large-scale railway building momentum in China, said Liu, noting that the ministry will launch a total of 87 railways projects this year.

As a step to renovate part of the country's outdated low-speed railways, a total length of 3,860 electrified rail routes will go into service across the country in 2006, Liu said.

Meanwhile, two key projects of the railways sector will become operational in 2006, said the minister, one is the highest-latitude Qinghai-Tibet Railway which will go into trial operation in July, and the other is the electrified Beijing-Shanghai Railway to be in service in the year.

Preparations for China's sixth large-scale speed-lift for railways is also scheduled to be completed before October this year, the minister said.