BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- China's Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang Tuesday urged the nation's railway departments to step up efforts to promote safe railway transport and build quality railway projects to better serve social-economic development.

Further, priority should be placed on ensuring the safety of the country's high-speed railway in the next five years, Zhang told a national railway conference.

Zhang urged railway departments to accelerate construction of the major projects while strengthening quality management and control.

He also ordered authorities to make more efforts to improve technological innovation, while sharpen the international competitiveness of railway technologies and products.

Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang (C) speaks at a national railway conference in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 4, 2011.

In 2010, 1.68 billion passenger journeys were conducted through the nation's railways, up 9.9 percent year on year, according to data from the Ministry of Railways.

The total length of the country's railways had reached 91,000 km by 2010, and the railways would reach 120,000 km in five years, according to Chinese Railways Minister Liu Zhijun.