China expands transport network to boost development

This stitched aerial photo taken on Feb. 4, 2023 shows the Quanzhou Bay cross-sea bridge, a part of the Fuzhou-Xiamen high-speed railway, in east China's Fujian Province. (Xinhua/Zhou Yi)

BEIJING, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- China has made notable achievements in improving its transport infrastructure network and transport services over the past five years, and will advance the construction of a comprehensive transport system in the future, the Ministry of Transport said on Thursday.

During the 2018-2022 period, China built the world's largest high-speed railway and expressway networks, as well as a world-class port cluster, Li Xiaopeng, minister of transport, said at a press conference.

Fixed-asset investment in the country's transport system exceeded 17 trillion yuan (about 2.46 trillion U.S. dollars) during the period, Li said.

By the end of 2022, the total length of the country's comprehensive transport network exceeded 6 million km.

The operating mileage of the railway network reached 155,000 km, of which high-speed railways accounted for 42,000 km. The country had a total of 5.35 million km of highways by the end of 2022, of which expressways represented 177,000 km.

There were 2,751 10,000-tonne-class or above berths and 254 certified civil airports throughout the country by the end of last year, data from the ministry shows.

Last year, the main indicators of passenger and freight turnover, and the postal and express delivery volume in China were among the top in the world, according to Li.

The country's commercial passenger volume hit 5.59 billion, its commercial freight volume stood at 50.6 billion tonnes, its port throughput amounted to 15.68 billion tonnes, and its container throughput exceeded 300 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

Average daily ride-hailing and bike-sharing orders exceeded 20 million and 33 million, respectively, and express delivery companies handled an average of more than 300 million parcels every day, representing an improvement in transport services, Li said.

Li said that China has been promoting the high-quality development of its transport sector, deepening the country's green and low-carbon transformation, and improving its business environment.

China has also been strengthening its cooperation with foreign countries, with China-Europe freight trains now reaching more than 200 cities across 25 countries in Europe, and shipping services now cover all coastal countries along the Belt and Road, he said.

Moving forward, Li said the ministry will formulate and implement a five-year action plan to accelerate China's transformation into a transport powerhouse, increase effective investment, accelerate the development of a unified and open transport market, and promote global transport cooperation.