BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China will invest 800 billion yuan (123 billion U.S. dollars) on railways in 2016, especially in the less developed central and western regions, rail authorities said on Sunday.

About 2.5 billion passengers traveled by train last year, up 10 percent for the third year running, said Sheng Guangzu, general manager of the China Railway Corp..

Non-container cargo transportation increased 18.7 percent in 2015 from the previous year and container cargo transportation rose 20.2 percent year on year.

China invested 823.8 billion yuan on railways in 2015, beating the full-year goal of 800 billion yuan, and put 9,531 km of new lines into operation, while the annual target was 8,000 km.