Nation ready for transport expansion

Guideline sets out major plans for building convenient, high-quality network by 2035

China has unveiled a high-profile guideline to build a more convenient and high-quality transportation network by 2035, allowing most residents to have access to a national highway within 15 minutes, a freeway in half an hour and a railway in an hour.

The plan, which was jointly released on Wednesday by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, set the goal of building a comprehensive transportation network by 2035, when China will basically realize socialist modernization.

A more convenient logistics network will also be built, in which parcels will be delivered to customers in China in only one day, to neighboring countries in two days and reach major cities around the world in three days.

By 2035, a comprehensive transportation network of about 700,000 kilometers will be established. The network will be convenient, cost-effective, green, intelligent and safe, according to the guideline.

The network will comprise about 200,000 km of rail tracks, 460,000 km of roads and 25,000 km of waterways — with 27 coastal ports and 36 inland river ports — and about 400 civil aviation airports and 80 logistics hubs.

China’s transportation industry is expected to undergo fast development by 2035. Passenger trips are expected to grow at an annual rate of 3.2 percent, while freight volume is set to increase by 2 percent annually and the express delivery business is expected to grow by 6.3 percent annually.

Based on the level of transportation demand, the guideline divided geographic regions into three categories: the highest level are “pole regions”, the medium level are “cluster regions”, and the lowest level are “group regions”.

There are four “pole regions” — the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta economic region, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, in addition to eight “cluster regions” and nine “group regions”.

An international transportation network will be established, including international freight trains, four ocean transport lines, and a flight and logistics network with global access.

The plan also set a long-term goal till the middle of the century. By then, a modern, high-quality and comprehensive national transportation network will be built with a world-class transportation infrastructure system.

The length of China’s high-speed railways, freeways and urban rail networks all already rank top in the world.

The railway network, excluding urban rail, has reached 146,300 km, with about 38,000 km of high-speed railway lines.

The road network has reached 5.2 million km, with 161,000 km of expressways.