These maps show how far China's freight railways are stretching across Asia
cnbc.comBEIJING — In the last two years, China has announced the opening of new freight train lines, while cross-border railways have become a feature in President Xi Jinping's meetings with regional leaders.
It's all part of Beijing's Belt and Road initiative, a complex network of infrastructure projects connecting China to its trading partners.
Here's a look at where the rail lines are being built across the Asian continent.
The projects include high-speed passenger trains.
In April, China's national rail ticketing app opened online bookings for a 10.5-hour train ride from Yunnan province to the capital of Laos. If all goes as planned, that route will one day connect to the Thai capital of Bangkok and Phnom Penh, Cambodia's riverside capital.
In the last six months, China also opened freight train lines to Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, according to state media.
Far in the north, China last year opened a railway bridge between the remote province of Heilongjiang and Russia. New rail routes to transport coal from Mongolian mines to China are underway, according to state media.
Those freight lines are in addition to China's relatively older rail network through central Asia — connecting Yiwu in eastern China to London.
While it's difficult to verify how operational all the rail lines are, official reports offer a glimpse at how China's Belt and Road ambitions are panning out.
CNBC analyzed the reports to create the following schematic diagrams of the railways, built and planned, by region:
China's Belt and Road Initiative was launched in 2013 at the beginning of Xi's presidency. The program is widely seen as Beijing's effort to boost global influence through the development of rail, sea and other transportation routes running from
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