Transport in China

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Transport in the People's Republic of China
)
maglev
line in the world.

Transport in China has experienced major growth and expansion in recent years. Although China's transport system comprises a vast network of transport nodes across its huge territory, the nodes tend to concentrate in the more economically developed coastal areas and inland cities along major rivers.[1] The physical state and comprehensiveness of China's transport infrastructure tend to vary widely by geography. While remote, rural areas still largely depend on non-mechanized means of transport, urban areas boast a wide variety of modern options, including a maglev system connecting the city center of Shanghai with Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Airports, roads, and railway construction will provide a massive employment boost in China over the next decade.

Much of contemporary China's transport systems have been built since the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949. The

National Trunk Highway System has expanded the network to about 97,000 km (60,273 mi) by the end of 2012[7]
making China's the longest expressway network in the world.

History

China is in the midst of a massive upgrade of its transport infrastructure. Until recently, China's economy was able to continue to grow despite deficiencies in infrastructure development. This is no longer the case, and the government realizes that to keep the economy moving forward, they need an efficient system in place to move goods and people across the country. According to World Bank statistics, goods lost due to poor or obsolete transport infrastructure amounted to one percent of China's GDP as recently as the most current survey (mid-1990s). Logistic costs account for 20% of a product's price in China, compared to 10% in the United States, and 5% in other developed countries.

Ports are being improved for greater use of China's waterways, and airports are being improved across the country. Related industries such as construction equipment, engineering, container security, and electronics and safety devices have also grown rapidly.

Regulation

Mainland China

Transport in mainland China is regulated by a new agency formed from the

.

Special administrative regions

The aforementioned transport authorities have no

Transport Department of Hong Kong, whereas Macau's transport is regulated by the Transport Bureau of Macau.[8]

Rail

Current railway network in China, including HSR lines

Rail is the major mode of transport in China. In 2019, railways in China delivered 3.660 billion passenger trips, generating 1,470.66 billion passenger-kilometres and carried 4.389 billion tonnes of freight, generating 3,018 billion cargo tonne-kilometres;[9] both traffic volumes are among the highest in the world. The high volume of traffic that China's railway system carries makes it critical to China's economy. China's railway system carries 24% of the world's railway transport volume on only 6% of the world's railways. China has the world's second longest railway network; as of 2020 it is 146,300 km (90,907 mi) long.[10] About 71.9% of the network is electrified in 2019.[9]

In 2011 China's railway inventory included 19,431

joint-venture railways. National railway freight cars numbered 622,284[11]
and passenger coaches 52,130 .[11]

Because of its limited capital, overburdened infrastructure, and need to continuously modernize, the national rail system, which is controlled by the

freight
sector was allowed beginning in 2003, and international public stock offerings opened in 2006. In another move to better capitalize and reform the rail system, the Ministry of Railways established three public shareholder-owned companies in 2003: China Railways Container Transport Company, China Railway Special Cargo Service Company, and China Railways Parcel Express Company.

In recent decades, rail use in China has seen significant growth in the volume of goods and passengers transported. Since 1980, the volume of goods transported (metric tons times kilometers traveled) has increased by 305% and the volume of passengers (million passengers times kilometers traveled) has increased by 485%.[12] During this same time period, total length of rail lines has only increased by 34%.[12]

Statistics[12]

1980 1990 2000 2010 2014 2015 2017
Rail lines (total route-km)[13] 49,940 53,378 58,656 66,239 66,989
Goods transported on railways (metric tons times kilometers traveled) 570,732 1,060,100 1,333,606 2,451,185 2,308,669
Passengers carried on railways (million passengers times kilometers traveled) 138,037 263,530 441,468 791,158 807,065
Urban rail transit (kilometers)[5] 5,033
Subway (kilometers)[5] 3,844
Urban rail transit under construction (kilometers)[5] 6,246
Bus rapid transit (kilometers)[14] 2,991

Regional development

Lhasa railway station
Qingzang railway
in 2008.

In 1992, a new large-scale rail project was launched in China, called the "New Silk Road" or "Eurasian Continental Bridge" project. The project involved the modernization and infrastructure development of a 4,131 km (2,567 mi) railroad route starting in

Urumqi, Xinjiang, to the Alataw Pass into Kazakhstan. From that point, the railroad links to some 6,800 km (4,225 mi) of routes that end in Rotterdam
.

China also has established rail links between seaports and interior export-processing zones. For example, in 2004 Chengdu in Sichuan was linked to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in coastal Guangdong; exports clear customs in Chengdu and are shipped twice daily by rail to the seaport at Shenzhen for fast delivery.

Tibet

A 1,080 km (671 mi) section of the

Tanggula Mountain Pass, is 5,072 m above sea level, making it the highest railway in the world. More than 960 km (597 mi), or over four-fifths of the railway, is at an altitude of more than 4,000 m, and over half of it was laid on frozen earth. Because of the high altitudes, carriages are supplied with supplemental oxygen
.

Linking

Qingzang railway
started in 2009 with completion expected by 2014.

High-speed rail

High speed train passing the Beijing central business district

The high-speed service is mainly operated by China Railway High-speed. HSR developed rapidly in China over the past 15 years thanks to generous funding from the Chinese government. With ridership exceeding 1.44 billion in 2016, China's HSR service was the most heavily used in the world.[15][16] In 2016, the network is the longest in the world and accounted for about two-thirds of the world's high-speed rail tracks[17] and operated with 2,595 high-speed trains, accounting for about 60 percent of all global high-speed trains.[18][needs update]

Maglev

China also has the world's first commercial high-speed maglev (magnetic levitation) service,

Line S1, Beijing Subway
).

In January 2021 a prototype for a new high-speed maglev train capable of 620 km/h (390 mph) was unveiled. Developed by Southwest Jiaotong University near Chengdu, Professor He Chuan, vice president of the university, told reporters that the train is scheduled to be operational within 3–10 years.[20] In July 2021 the CRRC unveiled a four-car 600 km/h (370 mph) maglev train.[21] Long test tracks are being developed to test the vehicles.

Railway links with adjoining countries

The two railway links China have with a neighboring country that does not have a break of gauge is with North Korea and Vietnam. China also has links with Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia, which all use the 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+2732 in) gauge, and with Vietnam, where the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+38 in) gauge is still in use. The Trans-Siberian Railway, which crosses Russia, has a branch that sweeps down from Ulan-Ude, across Mongolia, and on to Beijing.

China does not have a direct rail link with Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan or Tajikistan, but is currently planning links with Laos and India (via Myanmar).

Variable-gauge-axle trains are sometimes used to overcome the break of gauge with neighboring countries. The mainland is also linked to Hong Kong, but not with Macau, although a Macau link is planned.

Urban Rail

Rapid Transit

Zhangguozhuang station on Line 14, Beijing Subway

Currently there over 30 rapid transit systems in mainland China. A further 12 systems are under construction and 20 more metros are planned. Today China boasts the world's longest, second and third longest metro systems.[22][23][24] The Shanghai Metro only started operating in 1993 and has since expanded to be the world's longest subway system.[22][23][25] Of the top 15 longest metro systems in the world 8 of them are in China, also possessing half of the top ten busiest metro systems in the world.[26] As of January 2016, 39 cities have metro systems approved according to the National Development and Reform Commission. China plans to spend 4.7 trillion yuan ($706 billion) on transport infrastructure in the three years following 2016.[27] As of early 2017, China has 5636.5 km of under construction rail transit lines.[28]

A Line 11 train arriving at Nanxiang station of Shanghai Metro.
Caihongqiao station of Line 8, Guangzhou Metro

Light Rail/Tram