LI & FUNG RESEARCH CENTRE China Distribution & Trading · Li & Fung Research Centre Member of the Li & Fung Group ... Case Study: 8 railway development ... LI & FUNG RESEARCH CENTRE

1

Li & Fung Research Centre

Member of the Li & Fung Group

China Distribution & Trading Issue 44 August 2007

IN THIS ISSUE :


13/F, LiFung Centre

2 On Ping Street

Shatin, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2635 5563

Fax: (852) 2635 1598

E-mail: [email protected]

http://www.lifunggroup.com/

Transport infrastructure

development in China

Part II: Railway

1. Overview

Railway is also another important mode of transportation carrying goods and

people in China. In recent years, huge efforts have been made by the Chinese

government to speed up railway development. The construction of railways

reached its heights ever since the promulgation of the Mid- and Long-term

Railway Development Plan ( ) by the Ministry of Railways

(MOR) in 2004. Since then, both the quantity and quality of the railway

transportation has improved enormously. Large projects such as the Nanjing-

Xi’an ( ) and Chongqing-Haihua ( ) Lines started their operation in the

first half of 2006; while the Qinghai - Tibet Railway ( ) began its

operation on 1 July 2006.

At the end of 2006, the total length of railways in operation reached 77 000 km,

which ranked third in the world and accounted for 6% of the world’s total.

Among these, 63 400 km was national railways, accounting for 82.3% of the

total; the total length of joint venture railways and local railways were 8 900 km

and 4 700 km, representing 11.6% and 6.1% of the total length of railways

respectively.

The growth of freight traffic remained robust in 2006. The volume of freight

dispatched by the railways in China in 2006 was 2.9 billion tons, with a year-on-

year (yoy) increase of 7.1%. The total freight ton-kilometers in 2006 were 2 195

billion, with a yoy increase of 5.9%. As for passenger traffic, the number of

passengers dispatched by railways surged to a record high of 1.3 billion

persons, representing a yoy increase of 8.7%. The total passenger-kilometers

amounted to 662.2 billion, up by 9.2% over the previous year.

The structure of the railway network has also improved a great deal. In 2006,

34.3% of the railways were double tracking; and 31.7% were electrified.

Moreover, the advancement of the railway-related facilities, equipment,

information management, technology, etc. has also been fairly impressive. For

Part II: Railway

1. Overview 1

2. Development Plans 2

3. Case Study: 8

railway development –

a regional perspective

LI & FUNG RESEARCH CENTRE

China Distribution & TradingIssue 44 August 2007

2



instance, the technology applied in the Qinghai - Tibet Railway to cope with the cold weather in the highlands represents

one of the most advanced means of technology in the world in terms of railways construction.

2. Development Plans

(1) Mid- and Long-term Railway Development Plan ( )

i. Objectives

The Mid- and Long-term Railway Development Plan (the Plan) was approved by the State Council and promulgated by

the MOR in 2004. The MOR seeks to extend the coverage, improve the network structure, lift the quality, boost

transportation capacity and upgrade the equipments rapidly. It is estimated that by 2020, the total length of railways in

operation in China will reach 100 000 km, with passenger lines and freight lines separated in the busy routes. The MOR

sets the goal of having 50% of railways electrified and 50% of the railways double tracking. It also aims to boost the

transportation capacity so as to meet the demand of the national economic and social development and upgrade the

facilities to meet the international standards.

ii. Principles

Major principles set forth in the Plan include:

a. To coordinate with other modes of transportation and related sectors such as the energy sector;

b. To divide passenger lines and freight lines along the busy routes and develop express railways in the cities with

dense population and robust economy;

c. To strengthen the connections among the economic regions to facilitate the flow of passengers and freight;

d. To increase the density and the coverage of the railway network to support the economic development; and

e. To upgrade domestic railway facilities and seek to push the internationalization of the facilities and equipments.

iii. Highlights of the Plan

To realize the goals set forth in the Plan, the MOR has vowed to speed up the construction of a well-connected and

coordinated railway network comprising passenger lines and freight lines. The followings are some major initiatives

undertaken by the MOR:

a. Constructing dedicated passenger lines

In order to meet the surging demand for passenger transportation, the MOR will build about 12 000 km of railways, linking

provincial capitals and other large- and medium-size cities. The passenger lines can be classified into the following three

categories: 1) Four routes linking north and south ( ); 2) Four routes linking east and west (

); and 3) Three Inter-City Passenger Transportation Systems ( ). Details of these passenger lines

are listed in Exhibit 1.


3



Exhibit 1 Details of the Mid- and Long-term Railway Development Plan

I. Four routes linking north and south ( )

1. Beijing - Shanghai Passenger Line Linking among the prosperous eastern coastal 1 300 km

( ) regions including Beijing, Tianjin and the YRD

2. Beijing – Wuhan – Guangzhou – Shenzhen Connecting northern and southern parts of China 2 230 km

Passenger Line

( )

3. Beijing - Shenyang - Harbin (Dalian) Linking among the northeastern region 1 860 km

Passenger Line

[ ]

4. Hangzhou - Ningbo - Fuzhou - Shenzhen Linking the YRD, PRD and southeastern 1 600 km

Passenger Line coastal regions

( )

II. Four routes linking east and west ( )

1. Xuzhou - Zhengzhou - Lanzhou Passenger Line Connecting northwestern and eastern 1 400 km

( ) parts of China

2. Hangzhou - Nanchang - Changsha Connecting central and eastern parts of China 880 km

Passenger Line

( )

3. Qingdao - Shijiazhuang - Taiyuan Passenger Line Connecting northern and eastern parts of China 770 km

( )

4. Nanjing - Wuhan - Chongqing - Chengdu Connecting southwestern and eastern 1 900 km

Passenger Line parts of China

( )

III. Three Inter-City Passenger Transportation Systems ( )

1. Bohai-rim ( ) Covering the region’s main cities such as Beijing, Tianjin,

Shijiazhung and etc.

2. YRD ( ) Covering the region’s main cities such as Shanghai, Ningbo,

Hangzhou and etc.

3. PRD ( ) Covering the region’s main cities such as Guangzhou, Zhuhai,

Shenzhen and etc.

Source: MOR


4



b. Developing new lines and expanding railway capacity in the western regions

In China, the western region is generally less accessible and railway development also lags behind that of other regions.

To foster a more balanced regional development, the MOR will expand the railway network into the western areas.

Railways linking the western region with the eastern part of the country, and railways connecting provinces, municipalities

and autonomous regions in the western region will be built. A total of 16 000 km of new railways will be constructed.

Examples of these are shown in Exhibit 2.

Exhibit 2 New railways to be constructed

1. To build Kashi - Torugart Pass of the China - Kyrgyzstan - Uzbekistan

Railway ( ); Kunming - Jinghong -

Mohan Pass of the China – Laos Crossing (

); Dali - Ruili Pass of the China - Burma Crossing (

); and re-build Kunming - Hekou Pass of the China -

Vietnam Crossing ( ) and etc.

2. To build Taiyuan - Zhongwei (Yinchuan) line [ ]

and Linhe - Hami line ( )

3. To build Lanzhou (or Xining) - Chongqing (or Chengdu) line [

]

4. To build Korla - Golmud line ( ) and Longgang -

Dunhuang - Golmud line ( )

5. To build railways in the western part of China including Jinghe - Yining

( ), Kuitun - Altay ( ), Nyingtri - Lhasa - Xigaze

( ), Dali - Shangri-La ( ),

Yongzhou - Yulin and Maoming ( ), Hepu - Hechun

( ), Xi’an - Pingliang ( ), Liuzhou - Zhaoqing (

), Sanggin Dalai - Zhangjiakou ( ),

Zhungeer - Hohhot ( ), Jining - Zhangjiakou (

) and etc.

6. To build railways in the eastern and central parts of China including

Tongling - Jiujiang ( ), Jiujiang - Jingdezhen - Quzhou

( ), Ganzhou - Shaoguan ( ),

Longyan - Xiamen ( ), Huzhou - Jiaxing - Zhapu (

) and etc.

Source: MOR

Forming international railway crossings

in the northwestern and southwestern

parts of China

Forming a new corridor linking northern

and northeastern parts of China

Forming a new channel linking the

northwestern and southwestern parts of

China

Forming a convenient path linking

Xinjiang, Qinghai and Tibet

Improving the rai lway network of

western part of China

Improving the railway network of eastern

and central parts of China


5



c. Upgrading the existing lines

Meanwhile, the MOR also seeks to strengthen the technology applied in the existing railway network and upgrade the

network’s connection capacity. A total of 13 000 km of sub-lines to the existing trunk lines will be built and 16 000 km of

existing trunk lines will be electrified. The major initiatives are listed in Exhibit 3.

Exhibit 3 The major initiatives to upgrade the existing railway network

1. To construct double-tracking and electrify the seven existing main

routes: Beijing – Harbin ( ), Beijing - Shanghai ( ), Beijing -

Kowloon ( ), Beijing - Guangzhou ( ), Continental Bridge

( ), Shanghai - Wuhan - Chengdu ( ) and Shanghai -

Kunming ( )

2. To re-build the stations in hub cities with a focus on Beijing ( ),

Shanghai ( ), Guangzhou ( ), Wuhan ( ), Chengdu

( ) and Xi’an ( )

3. To upgrade the existing network’s capacity. For instance, the upgrading

of capacity of the railways responsible for coal transportation: Datong

(including Mengxi region) [ ( ),] Shenfu ( ), Taiyuan

(including Jinnan district) [ ( )], southeastern Shanxi

( ), Shaanxi ( ), Guizhou ( ), Henan ( ), Yanzhou

( ), Huainan and Huaibei ( ) and the eastern part of

Heilongjiang ( )

4. Re-build and upgrade the railways which are responsible for container

transportation; develop and begin the operation of double-decker

container train

Source: MOR

iv. Mid-term goals (to be achieved by 2010)

The MOR has laid down its mid-term goals in the Plan. It is expected the total length of railways in operation by 2010 will

reach 85 000 km, of which 5 000 km being dedicated passenger lines. The MOR also wishes that the total length of both

the double-tracking railways and electrified railways will hit 35 000 km by 2010. The followings are the key issues of the

medium-term goals.

Upgrading the railway facilities

Improving the network of hub cities

Upgrading the capacity of the

transportation network

Forming container hubs in China

6



Map

1 T

he d

ed

icate

d p

assen

ger

lin

es t

o b

e f

inis

hed

du

rin

g t

he 1

1th

FY

P p

eri

od

So

urc

e:

MO

R


7



a. Dedicated Passenger Line

Completion of the dedicated passenger lines including Beijing - Shanghai ( ), Wuhan - Guangzhou (

), Xi’an - Zhengzhou ( ), Shijiazhuang - Taiyuan ( ), Ningbo - Xiamen ( ) and

commencement of construction of dedicated passenger lines including Beijing - Wuhan ( ), Tianjin -

Qinhuangdao ( ) and Xiamen - Shenzhen ( ).

b. Extending the network and developing new lines in the western regions

To further extend the network of the railway by constructing railways linking the western part of China (e.g. Sichun and

Yunnan provinces) to neighbouring countries such as Vietnam and Burma.

c. Improving and upgrading the existing lines

To upgrade the existing network by such means as construction of double-tracking railways of the existing trunk lines.

(2) The 11th Five-year Developement Plan for Railway

China’s 11th FYP also calls for speeding up railway development. In view of this, the MOR promulgated the 11th Five-year

Development Plan for Railway (the Plan) in 2006. The Plan was written with reference to the Mid- and Long-term Railway

Development Plan. The focus is on the construction of dedicated passenger lines and inter-city railways. It also states that

main passenger/cargo hubs shall be strengthened; and container transportation shall further be developed.

The following projects are listed as the priorities during 2006-2010:

Dedicated Passenger Lines: To build Beijing – Shanghai ( ), Beijing - Zhengzhou - Wuhan - Guangzhou -

Shenzhen ( ), Harbin - Dalian ( ), Tianjin - Qinhuangdao ( ),

Shanghai - Hangzhou – Ningbo ( ), Shijiazhuang – Taiyuan ( ), Ji’nan – Qingdao (

), Xuzhou – Zhengzhou ( ), Xi’an - Baoji passenger lane ( ), Shanghai – Wuhan -

Chengdu ( ), Ningbo - Xiamen - Shenzhen rapid passenger corridor ( ). Please see Map 1 for

details of the dedicated passenger lines to be finished during the 11th FYP period.

Inter-city railways in the PRD, YRD, Bohai-rim and other regions with dense cities: To build Beijing - Tianjin ( ),

Shanghai - Nanjing ( ) and Nanjing - Hangzhou ( ) and Nanjing - Wuhu - Anqing (

), Guangzhou - Zhuhai ( ), Jiujiang - Nanchang ( ), Qingdao - Yantai - Weihai (

), Mianyang - Chengdu - Emei ( ), Changchun - Jilin ( ) and Liuzhou - Nanning (

) inter-city rail transit system and the Shanghai - Hangzhou Maglev Railway ( ).


8



Container transportation system: To build 18 container logistics centres in Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangzhou, with the

help of new and existing railways, and to construct double-deck container transportation railway in the big cities.

3. Case Study: railway development – a regional perspective

The PRD, YRD and Bohai-rim regions are the most robust regions in China in terms of economic power, development

scale and development potential. Although the pace of railway development has been fairly rapid in recent years, it is still

long way for the railway network to meet the needs of these regions. After years of development, these regions are

entering a new stage of development: the upgrading of industry structure, urbanization and economic integration continue

to accelerate; inter-city and international economic exchange is closer; and flow of people is more frequent. All these

changes call for a comprehensive regional transportation network.

In light of this, the State Council approved the Inter-city rail transit network plan for Bohai-rim, Yangtze River Delta and

Pearl River Delta (the Plan) in March 2005.

The crux of the Plan is to build a comprehensive inter-city railway transit network within the three regions in concern. It is

hoped that the network can accelerate the process of economic integration and urbanization; and help boost the efficiency

and service quality of the public transportation system. A comprehensive inter-city railway network is necessary for

building a modernized transportation system. Today, there are already many inter- and intra-cities highways and

expressways. The fact is, however, to rely largely on road network to meet the rapid-growing transportation demand for

passenger and freight is unrealistic. With reference to the development of other international city clusters, a quality rail

transit system and network with huge capacity, high speed, low cost but is environmental friendly is one of the basic

requirements of sustainable development of the region. Boxes 1-3 show the highlights of the inter-city rail transit network

plans of the three regions and Maps 2-4 depict the routes in the plans accordingly.


9



Box 1: Bohai-rim inter-city rail transit network plan (2005 ~ 2020)

2005 2020

Plan - Beijing as centre

- Beijing - Tianjin as axis

- Shijiazhuang ( ) and Qinhuangdao ( ) as two wings

- Covering major cities in the region and forming a “two-hour-transportation circle”, i.e. all cities in the region

can be reached within two hours (from Beijing and Tianjin)

Route - Beijing - Tianjin - Tanggu ( ) 160 km

- Beijing - Shijiazhuang ( ) 263 km

- Beijing - Tangshan - Qinhuangdao ( ) 287 km

By 2010 - The route Beijing - Tianjin - Tanggu ( ) will be completed, i.e. a total of 160 km of new rail

transit will begin operation

By 2020 - The routes Beijing - Shijiazhuang ( ) and Beijing - Tangshan - Qinhuangdao (

) will be completed, i.e. a total of 710 km of new rail transit (including the one finished during 2005-

2010) will begin operation

- The network shall sufficiently serve the regional social and economic development needs

- The advancement of major technology and equipments shall reach international level

Map 2 Bohai-rim inter-city rail transit network plan (2005 ~ 2020)

Source: MOR


10



Box 2: Yangtze River Delta inter-city rail transit network plan (2005 ~ 2020)

2005 2020

Plan - Shanghai as centre

- Shanghai - Ningbo and Shanghai - Hangzhou as two wings

- Covering the whole region and forming a “one-to-two-hour-transportation circle”, i.e. all other cities in the

region can be reached in one to two hours (from Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou)

Route - Nanjing - Zhenjiang - Wuxi - Suzhou - Shanghai ( ) 295 km

- Shanghai - Hangzhou ( ) 160 km

- Hangzhou - Ningbo ( ) 158 km

- Changzhou - Jiangyin - Changshu - Suzhou ( ) 124 km

- Suzhou - Jiaxing ( ) 78 km

By 2010 - The routes Nanjing - Zhenjiang - Wuxi - Suzhou - Shanghai ( ) and

Shanghai - Hangzhou ( ) will be completed, i.e. a total of 455 km of new rail transit will begin

operation

By 2020 - The routes Hangzhou - Ningbo ( ), Changzhou - Jiangyin - Changshu - Suzhou (

) and Suzhou - Jiaxing ( ) will be completed, i.e. a total of 815 km of new rail transit

(including the ones finished during 2005-2010) will begin operation



Map 3 Yangtze River Delta inter-city rail transit network plan (2005 ~ 2020)

Source: MOR


11



Box 3: Pearl River Delta inter-city rail transit network plan (2005 ~ 2020)

2005 2020

Plan - Guangzhou as centre

- Guangzhou - Shenzhen and Guangzhou - Zhuhai as axes

- Covering the cities in the whole region

- Linking to Hong Kong and Macao SARs

Route - Guangzhou - Dongguan - Shenzhen ( ) 131 km

- Guangzhou - Zhuhai ( ) 115 km

- Guangzhou - Foshan ( ) 37 km

- Xiaolan - Humen ( ) 70 km

- Jiangmen - Xiaolan ( ) 30 km

- Guangzhou - Zhaoqing ( ) 116 km

- Dongguan - Huizhou ( ) 89 km

By 2010 - The routes Guangzhou - Dongguan - Shenzhen ( ), Guangzhou - Zhuhai ( ),

Guangzhou - Foshan ( ), Xiaolan - Humen ( ) and Jiangmen - Xiaolan ( )

will be completed, i.e. a total of 383 km of new rail transit will begin operation

By 2020 - The routes Guangzhou - Zhaoqing ( ) and Dongguan - Huizhou ( ) will be completed,

i.e. a total of almost 600 km of new rail transit (including the ones finished during 2005-2010) will begin

operation



Map 4 Pearl River Delta inter-city rail transit network plan (2005 ~ 2020)

Source: MOR


12



© Copyright 2007 Li & Fung Research Centre. All rights reserved.

Though Li & Fung Research Centre endeavours to ensure the information discussed in this material is accurate and updated, no legal liability can be

attached as to the contents hereof. Reproduction or redistribution of this material without Li & Fung Research Centre’s prior written consent is prohibited.

Documents

LI & FUNG RESEARCH CENTRE China Distribution & Trading · Li & Fung Research Centre Member of the Li & Fung Group ... Case Study: 8 railway development ... LI & FUNG RESEARCH CENTRE