Beijing, July 17 (IANS): A Chinese railway firm has opened tenders for 351 bullet trains worth a staggering $10.6 billion.

China Daily reported that state-owned China Railway Investment Corp has opened tenders for what it claims is the largest train order in history.

As many as 228 bullet trains will have to reach a maximum speed of 350 km per hour, and 123 trains will need to run at 250 kilometers per hour, said CRIC, a subsidiary of China Railway Corp.

Experts estimate the tenders could be worth more than 66 billion yuan ($10.6 billion).

The tenders are for China-based makers only, the media report said.

The demand for rail in China has witnessed considerable growth.

A 350-kmph bullet train normally costs around 370 million yuan, and there is likely to be more demand for those than for the 250-kmph models, a source was quoted as saying.

Construction of China's high-speed rail network began in 2007.

The country has over 16,000 km of high-speed rail at the end of 2014.