BEIJING, June 11 -- China has scaled up investment in railway construction since the beginning of the year, data from the country's railway operator showed Tuesday.

During the January-May period, fixed-asset investment in the country's railway sector reached 228.47 billion yuan (about 32.12 billion U.S. dollars), marking a 10.8-percent increase from the same period last year, according to China State Railway Group.

The investment volume expanded from 184.9 billion yuan in the first four months of this year.

The latest progress in the railway construction includes the completion of tracklaying of a high-speed railway section from Meizhou to Longchuan, both in Guangdong province, marking a key stage towards opening to traffic. Multiple projects under construction across the country also made headway steadily last month.

The group said it will continue to enhance the connectivity of the railway network to further fuel the overall economic growth of the country.