China announces a national transportation system development plan
A few days ago, China issued the "14th Five-Year Plan" Modern Comprehensive Transportation System Development Plan, the main goal is to move towards a world-class level of transportation development by 2025. By 2035, the "National 123 Travel Traffic Circle" (1 hour commuting in urban areas, 2 hours of access to urban agglomerations, and 3 hours of coverage of major cities in the country) and the "Global 123 Fast Cargo Flow Circle" (1 day delivery of express goods in China, 2 days of delivery in neighboring countries, and 3 days of delivery in major cities around the world) will be basically formed, and a transportation power will be basically built.
So, how will this be achieved? According to the transport development plan by 2025, the total length of China's high-speed railways is 50,000 kilometers, compared with 38,000 kilometers in 2020. The high-speed rail network, with train speeds of 250 kilometers per hour, will cover at least 95 percent of large cities with a population of more than 500,000. The total length of the railway network will increase by 20,000 km to 165,000 km.
A further 30 major airports will be built, bringing the total number of airports to 270. Within five years, the length of high-quality inland waterways will increase from 16,100 kilometres to 18,500 kilometres.
The total length of highway construction will reach 161,000 kilometers in 2020, and the mileage of mainland expressways will reach 190,000 kilometers by 2025.
Urban transport has not been forgotten either, and has developed rapidly, especially recently. But at this stage, the main trends are green and smart. The proportion of city buses operating on new energy sources will increase from 66% to 72%. The length of urban metro lines will increase from 66,000 km to 10,000 km, and if transport volume increases, carbon emissions from the transport sector will be reduced by 5%.
China is particularly developing low-carbon transport, especially electric transport, China is in the world's first place in the production and sales of electric vehicles, and the gap with other countries is widening. Now, entire regions and the transportation industry, including urban transportation, are entering China's transportation network.
Of course, the problems that China is studying remain. Therefore, according to the transport development plan by 2025, China will significantly "expand the traffic routes in the western region and improve the transportation conditions in the border areas.". That is to say, roads, railway stations and airports will be built on a priority basis in the western region, with special attention to the links between suburban and rural areas and cities.
These are just some of the directions and parameters of China's transportation development plan. China has been committed to this goal for decades, investing huge amounts of money in infrastructure that we can't imagine. At the same time, these investments do not waste money, but will produce huge returns. Like the Western view, China believes that without proper infrastructure, it is impossible to achieve balanced and high-quality development of the country, nor can it improve the well-being of its people.
Now, look at what conditions China has created for this balanced development. Taking the most complex highways as an example, we generally think of the United States as famous for its highways. As a result, in roughly equal territory between the two countries, China's motor vehicle data volume has long lagged far behind that of the West. But now in China, there are 160,000 kilometers of highways (190,000 kilometers by 2025), about 97,000 kilometers in the United States, and china has about twice the length of highways in the United States. Another big country, Russia, although almost twice as large as China's territory, is only 6,800 kilometers, and that number is unlikely to change significantly in the foreseeable future.
In terms of high-speed railways, China is absolutely leading in terms of transportation volume, length (40,000 km), speed (300 km/h and above) and affordability, with an average fare of 500 yuan. Since Russia simply does not have the standard of such a high-speed railway (250 kilometers per hour) as China, it still looks good if Russia is part of the general rail network: about 127,000 kilometers in Russia, about 140,000 kilometers in China, and about 250,000 kilometers in the United States.
Russian railways are the last major link in the China-Europe transport chain that attracts China. However, in order to maintain this interest, Russian railways must be rebuilt to meet China's security and transportation speed requirements. Otherwise, China will find a detour route, and Russia will remain on outdated railways without Chinese transit funds.
Freight trains departing from China have long passed through Kazakhstan. In 2019, a new corridor through Turkey's China-Europe Railway was opened as part of China's "Belt and Road" strategy, and the main advantage of this route is the speed of transportation.
Not long ago, the Russian government updated Russia's transport strategy to 2030, which was formulated as early as 2008. The main innovation is to limit the ownership and use of personal vehicles. Among other correct and less clear strategic commitments, there is a strategy in which electric vehicles must account for 15% of Russia's fleet by 2030 and that about 600,000 charging stations should be built for electric vehicles. Russia, meanwhile, plans to sell about 250,000 electric vehicles. But it's unclear where they came from. Russia cannot produce electric vehicles, and no more than a thousand electric vehicles are imported from abroad every year. All attempts by Russia to create its own electric car and launch it into the series have failed. Does this create an excellent opportunity for New Energy Electric Vehicles in China?
Last year, China sold about 3 million new energy vehicles, and the country is being equipped with a charging network. According to the announced plan, China will produce and sell 7 million electric vehicles in 2025, which means that these cars will account for about one-fifth of the Chinese auto market. This strategy will certainly be implemented.