SCIO briefing on its white paper on the development of China's transport
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail China.org.cn, December 29, 2016
Yang Yudong:
I'll add up some further points. First, this year's travel rush will be better organized than previous years. There will be a new train diagram from January 5. A total of 3,570 pairs of passenger trains will be provided, increasing the traffic capacity by 7.5 percent and 7.1 percent respectively before and after the Spring Festival compared to last year.
Second, people may think that the Spring Festival experiences the largest travel rush. In fact, there is more rail traffic during the May Day and National Day holidays. This year, the National Day holiday saw a record number of 14.417 million people traveling by train in one single day, much higher than in the Spring Festival. As we have handled 14 million people during the National Day holiday, we can handle the same in the Spring Festival.
Third, the launch of new electric multiple units (EMUs) began October 1 this year and will be completed by January 31 next year. As I learned yesterday, at least 90 EMUs will be added, which can enable an additional 200,000 people to travel every day. We can see that this year's travel rush will be better handled than in previous years.
As to high-speed railway and regular trains, we have not only increased the capacity of EMUs, but also increased the number of regular trains to enable ordinary citizens, especially low-income ones, to travel back home for the Chinese New Year.
As you mentioned just now the high-speed rail in western regions has not made any profit so far. I think you should look at it this way: First, the construction projects of railways, whether it is normal rail or high-speed rail, are significant infrastructure projects for the nation. The newly built high-speed rail projects initially started operation in 2008. As an infrastructure project, it needs a long time to recoup its investment and also needs a long time to nurture the market. We are very happy to see that a big part of high-speed railways in eastern regions have started making profits after several years of developing. We believe that the rails in western regions will also break even after years of operation.
Speaking from another perspective, as a part of the strategy to develop China's western regions, the construction of the railways should be extended to the central and western regions, which will help implement the nation's strategies.
So, looking at the big picture, the western railways must be built and must be built expansively. It is not just a question of the rail companies profiting, but also about how to drive the comprehensive development of Chinese economic society.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)