Transport in Hunan

Hunan province, lying in the transitional zone between the country's eastern coastal areas and the midwest regions, and at the junction of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Coastal Open Economic Zone, enjoys an advantageous geographic position connecting China's east and west and linking the north and south. It has a comprehensive transport system of railways, waterways, highways and airports. The province is expected to accelerate construction of a comprehensive transport junction, in order to set up a new highland for inland opening-up. In 2018, Hunan's fixed assets investment in transport reached 64.7 billion yuan ($9.42 billion), while this year, the fixed assets investment for transport is expected to hit 50 billion yuan.

Highways

By the end of 2018, the length of highways in the province reached 240,060 kilometers, an increase of 0.1 percent year-on-year, and the length of expressways was 6,725 km, 306 km more than that of 2017. Seven expressways were open to traffic in 2018, adding 305 km to the province's expressway traffic mileage. A total of 1,005 km of trunk highways were constructed, and 1,073 endangered bridges were repaired. As well, 8,086 km of rural highways were rebuilt and transformed, and more than 20,000 km of cement and tarmac roads were newly constructed.

Railways

By the end of 2018, Hunan's fixed assets investment in railway construction was 23.64 billion yuan, accounting for 103.7 percent of the annual plan. The length of railway lines had reached 5,069 km, including 1,730 km of high-speed railways, ranking fourth in the country. The Huaihua-Shaoyang-Hengyang Railway was opened to traffic in December 2018, and construction of the Changde-Yiyang-Changsha High-speed Railway was started. Work on the Qianjiang-Zhangjiajie-Changde railway and the Menghua Railway (Inner Mongolia-Jiangxi Railway) was in full swing, and these lines are expected to be completed by the end of 2019.

Waterways

In 2018, Hunan invested 2.16 billion yuan into waterway construction, while this year, investment for waterway construction is expected to hit 1.7 billion yuan.

The total volume of waterway transport climbed to 211 million metric tons, the province's cargo throughput at ports surged to 243 million tons, and container throughput was 676,500 standard containers, or twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), up 17.5 percent year-on-year.

The province's inland waterway mileage was 11,968 km, the same as 2017. The total mileage of graded waterways was 4,219 km, 35.3 percent of the total waterway mileage and 0.1 percent percentage points higher than that of 2017.

Over the years, the province has attached great importance to improving the ecological environment of the Yangtze River water area, and closed 42 berths and 13 ferries. By the end of 2018, the province boasts 107 berths of 1,000-ton-class or above.

Airports

Hunan now has eight airports in different cities: Changsha, Zhangjiajie, Changde, Huaihua, Yongzhou, Tongren, Hengyang and Shaoyang, and four airports are under construction in Hezhou, Yulin, Fangchenggang/Qinzhou and Chongzuo. Two other airports are under construction in Chenzhou city and Xiangxi Tu autonomous prefecture, and are expected to be put into use in 2022.

The eight airports in Hunan will operate 5,928 weekly flights in summer and autumn in 2019, an increase of 14.5 percent year-on-year, including 442 international flights, growing by 24 percent. In 2018, passenger throughput of airports in Hunan was 30.24 million, an increase of 12.7 percent year-on-year, a growth rate ranking 15th in the country, while cargo throughput totaled 158,000 tons, increasing by 12 percent year-on-year.