Improving the Modern Comprehensive Transportation System (Authoritative Interview · Studying and Implementing the Spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China)
——An Interview with Liu Wei, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Minister of the Ministry of Transport
Secretary General Xi Jinping stressed that it is crucial to develop a safe, convenient, efficient, green, economical, inclusive and resilient sustainable transportation system if we want to have a high-quality economy that is well integrated with society and the people will have "affordable travel and smooth flow of goods". The Recommendations of the 15th Five-Year Plan, which were adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee, also focus on modernizing the comprehensive transportation system, cross-regional coordination, inter-modal integration, and improving the facilities and accessibility in less developed areas. Minister Liu Wei explained the deep meaning in these four dimensions:
Cornerstone of the Chinese Way to Modernization: During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's transportation system witnessed breakthrough development and laid a solid foundation for the country to become a transportation power. The 15th Five-Year Plan period will continue to increase transportation's comprehensive capacity, service quality and operational efficiency, thus facilitating the realization of socialist modernization.
Backbone of New Development Pattern: The world is changing rapidly and facing new challenges, so the improvement of the modern comprehensive transportation system will allow for stronger cross-regional coordination, inter-modal connectivity and cross-field integration. It will adapt the diversified and resilient international transportation channel system, help to establish interconnected, safe and efficient domestic and foreign logistics networks, and therefore, effectively serve the strengthening of domestic circulation and the smooth flow of domestic and international dual circulation.
Driver of New Productive Forces: Over the last few years, China's achievements in transportation technology have been outstanding, with the demonstration of intelligent connected vehicles, large cruise ships, intelligent ships and large aircraft, as well as the top technologies in intelligent high-speed railways, smart roads and automated terminals. The 15th Five-Year Plan period will see the use of the modern comprehensive transportation system to speed up the innovative application of artificial intelligence, take the lead of the core technologies and coordinate the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talents, thus forming new drivers for transportation modernization.
Guarantee for Common Prosperity: Up to now, "Four good rural roads" construction has been done very well and as a result, all town and village passenger transport and postal services are now covered by paved roads, which has greatly supported poverty alleviation and rural revitalization. The 15th Five-Year Plan period will be the phase in which inter-regional as well as urban-rural connectivity are strengthened, extended and the transportation inadequacies between regions, urban and rural areas and groups，and lay a solid foundation for advancing common prosperity will be narrowed.
Core Orientation: Adapting to "Three Shifts" issues with "One Network and Four Modernizations."
During the time of the 15th Five-Year Plan, transportation development has stepped into a new phase. There have been three major shifts in development logic:
Promotion Method Shift: a shift in focus from the development of a comprehensive network by each transportation mode separately to overall cross-regional planning, cross-modal connectivity, and cross-field integration at a deeper level;
Development Driver Shift: a shift from a mainly factor-driven to a structurally, digitally, and green-transformation-driven development;
Growth Model Shift: a shift from large-scale incremental expansion to the practice of connotative development which mainly focuses on increment optimization and stock quality improvement.
It is planned that four principles will be followed in the process of constructing a modern comprehensive transportation system. These include "pioneering and people-centered", "coordinated integration and economical applicability", "innovation empowerment and green low-carbon development", and "safety and reliability, openness and sharing". The central theme is "One Network and Four Modernizations":
One Network: Speed up the formation of a modern and high-quality national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network that will have the following features: convenient and smooth, economical and efficient, green and intensive, intelligent and advanced, safe and reliable. Keep on enhancing infrastructure networks such as railways, highways, water transportation, civil aviation, and postal express delivery. The main skeleton of "6 Axes, 7 Corridors and 8 Channels" will be more than 95% completed, and the establishment of the "National 1-2-3 Travel Circle" (1-hour commuting in metropolitan areas, 2-hour intercity travel, 3-hour national main city connection) and the "Global 1-2-3 Express Logistics Circle" (1-day delivery in domestic cities, 2-day delivery in neighboring countries, 3-day delivery in major global cities) will be very much supported.
Four Modernizations:
Integrated Development: Fully utilize the comparative advantages of different transport modes, develop multimodal transport (such as rail-water, rail-highway intermodal transport) vigorously, adjust the transportation structure, make the hub cities more powerful both in terms of aggregation and radiation, and deepen the integration of transportation with the surrounding fields.
Safety Enhancement: Follow safe development as the absolute bottom line, continue to enhance being prepared for severe weather and geological disasters, completely put an end to major and extraordinarily serious safety incidents, protect the legitimate rights and interests of the workers in the new employment groups in the transportation sector, and enhance the capacity of international transportation channels to deal with the risks.
Digital-Intelligent Upgrading: Seize the opportunity of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, strengthen the research and application of major scientific and technological projects in the transportation field, vigorously promote the construction of smart transportation (such as intelligent transportation management systems, automated driving demonstration applications), actively cultivate new scenarios and formats such as intelligent travel services, and continuously inject new momentum into transportation development.
Green Transformation: Driven by the "double carbon" goals, promote the construction of zero-carbon transportation corridors and green transportation stations, vigorously popularize the application of clean energy transportation equipment (such as new energy vehicles, ships powered by LNG), and reduce the carbon emission intensity of transportation.
Implementation Path: Accelerating the Construction of Four Major Systems
To implement the 15th Five-Year Plan arrangements, the Ministry of Transport will focus on accelerating the construction of four major systems:
Modern Transportation Infrastructure System:
Enhance the overall three-dimensional transportation network: To realize this, the construction of cross-regional and cross-basin major transportation channels should be first prioritized, at the same time the inland waterway system connection project should be carried out to facilitate the integrated development of multimodal transport network. More efforts should be put into accelerating the formation of a high-speed railway network with "Eight Vertical and Eight Horizontal" main channels as the backbone and regional high-speed railways as the supplements. Besides that, a new round of rural highway upgrading and reconstruction actions should be launched to improve the connectivity of rural transportation.
Driving the establishment of comprehensive transportation hubs: In addition to that, building the international comprehensive transportation hub clusters of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle should be further deepened. In the meantime, the development of the national port hub system, national comprehensive airport system and national postal express hub system should be coordinated to enable the hub's aggregation and distribution capacity.
Upgrade the network's quality and efficiency: Also, the interconnection of transportation infrastructure between different modes and regions should be increased to build a comprehensive three-dimensional national transportation network with railways as the main ones, highways as the basic ones, and water transportation and civil aviation as the auxiliary ones by taking full advantage of their comparative advantages (water transportation: low cost and large capacity; civil aviation: long distance and high speed).
Modern Transportation Service System:
Refine convenient travel services: Metropolitan integrated transportation should be accelerated first, and projects for improving intercity commuting efficiency (e.g. increasing the frequency of intercity railways) should be implemented. Public transportation can be diversified and developed locally (e.g. bus rapid transit, light rail). Besides, the "one ticket system" for inter-modal passenger transport can be gradually expanded. There should be a dual development model between rural and urban transport, respectively. Here, the barrier-free and aging-friendly facilities can be given priority in the construction and renovation works of transportation hubs and vehicles, along with the strengthening of their provision.
Facilitate cost reduction, quality improvement and efficiency enhancement in logistics: Apart from that, through further adjusting the transportation structure (increasing the proportion of railway and waterway freight), the facility system, the information connection system, the standard system and the enterprise service system as parts of the multimodal transport system can be improved, while emphasis can be put on a "one order system" (unified order placement for multimodal transport) as well as a "one box system" (standardized container transportation). On the other hand, strong comprehensive service capability with an integrated logistics integrator can be rapidly developed, which is an area prioritizing the fast application of such a system.
Steadily advance new transportation formats: Promote the integrated development of transportation with tourism (such as special tourist trains, self-driving travel service systems), energy (such as transportation of new energy materials) and postal services (such as integrated development of express delivery and rural logistics), develop low-altitude civil aviation according to local conditions (such as short-distance transportation, aerial sightseeing), and improve the urban-rural car rental network.
Modern Transportation Equipment and Technology System:
Strengthen research on key core technologies: Focus on the needs of intelligent comprehensive three-dimensional transportation, implement major scientific and technological research projects, and promote the R&D and application of common technologies in transportation infrastructure construction, transportation equipment manufacturing and other fields.
Vigorously develop smart transportation: Promote the cross-field integration of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, new-generation information technology, big data and space-air information with transportation, implement the "Artificial Intelligence + Transportation" initiative, and build intelligent transportation demonstration projects in key areas.
Advance the in-depth integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation: Promote the development of strategic emerging industries in the transportation field, such as high-end transportation equipment manufacturing, new energy vehicles and ships, new materials for transportation, energy conservation and environmental protection equipment, and transportation information technology, forming a mutually promoting pattern of technology, industry and market.
Promote green and low-carbon transformation: Actively promote the application of clean and low-carbon transportation tools and equipment such as new energy passenger and cargo vehicles, new energy ships and electric aircraft, accelerate the construction of supporting facilities such as charging and refueling (hydrogen) stations, and launch the construction of zero-carbon highway transportation corridors and green ports.
Modern Transportation Governance System:
Further deepen industry reform: Deepen the reform of the comprehensive transportation system, improve the coordination mechanism between different transportation modes, and continuously optimize toll road policies to reduce the burden on enterprises and the people.
Build a unified and open transportation market: Improve the new credit-based regulatory mechanism, strengthen the whole-process supervision of the transportation market, and clean up and abolish regulations and practices that hinder the construction of a unified national market and fair competition.
Improve laws, regulations, standards and specifications: Promote the formulation and revision of key laws and regulations such as the Transportation Law of the People's Republic of China, the Railway Law of the People's Republic of China, the Port Law of the People's Republic of China, as well as the Regulations on the Administration of Toll Roads and the Regulations on Road Transportation Administration, and improve the standard system covering transportation infrastructure, services, safety and other fields.
Fully ensure industrial safety and stability: Strengthen safety supervision in key areas such as transportation infrastructure operation, dangerous goods transportation, and passenger transport, improve the intrinsic safety level of important infrastructure, enhance disaster prevention, mitigation and relief capabilities, and improve the emergency disposal system for major transportation incidents to ensure the safe and stable operation of the transportation industry.
Source | People's Daily
Author | Han Xin
Editor | Fan Zijia
