China unveils guidelines on developing comprehensive transport network

China has unveiled plans to build the country's strength in the transport sector over the next 15 years, setting long-term goals for the industry, with the aim of developing a modern, high-quality and comprehensive national transport network.

By 2035, the country's transport network should be convenient, cost-effective, green, intelligent and safe, according to the guidelines jointly released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.

The transport network should feature higher domestic and international connectivity, multi-channel access to major cities, and effective coverage of county-level nodes, the guidelines state.

China should be at the global forefront in terms of the quality, intelligence and green levels of transport infrastructure, they say.

By the middle of the century, a modern, high-quality and comprehensive national transport network will be built in an all-around way, with a world-class transport infrastructure system, according to the guidelines.

Amid efforts to optimize the country's comprehensive transport layout, the total scale of the national comprehensive transport network will reach about 700,000 km by 2035, excluding the mileage of overseas sections of international land passages, air and sea routes and postal routes.

Among them, there will be about 200,000 km of railways, 460,000 km of highways and 25,000 km of high-grade waterways, with 27 major coastal ports, 36 major inland ports, about 400 civil-transport airports and about 80 postal express-delivery hubs, the guidelines said.

China will work to build a national comprehensive transport-hub system that consists of integrated transport-hub clusters, hub cities and hub ports, the guidelines said, stressing faster construction of about 20 international comprehensive transport-hub cities and about 80 national ones.

Calling for further integrated development of transportation with other industries, the guidelines also stressed efforts to empower transport infrastructure with new technologies and coordinate the development of intelligent connected vehicles and smart cities.