China’s railway freight to increase 30% by 2020

BEIJING — China will increase its railway freight volume by 30 percent, or 1.1 billion tons, from 2017 to 2020, an official said on July 2, as the country is working to improve its transport network and services.

Liu Xiaoming, vice-minister of transport, announced a series of detailed targets of a three-year action plan at a news conference.

Apart from the growth in railway cargo, the country's waterborne freight will rise 7.5 percent, or 500 million tons, in 2020 from the level in 2017. Meanwhile, road freight transport from coastal ports will drop by 440 million tons.

The action plan is designed to improve the structure of China's transport services. Liu said planning and construction of different means of transportation will be coordinated.

Measures will be taken to make transport services greener, Liu said, predicting emissions of nitrogen oxides would be reduced by 1.1 million tons in the next three years, fine particulate matter by 55,000 tons, and nitrogen dioxide by 100 million tons.