By Staff Reporters

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), China's transportation industry has made historic accomplishments. China's "business cards" such as high-speed rail, roads, bridges, ports and express delivery have become even more advanced. The sci-tech innovation capabilities in the transportation sector have significantly increased.

High-speed rail

At the end of June, the section of the Chongqing-Xiamen High-Speed Railway from Chongqing East to Qianjiang began operation, overcoming numerous geological challenges and threading through the Wuling Mountains. An important part of China's "Eight Vertical and Eight Horizontal" high-speed railway network, it fills a long-standing gap in high-speed rail coverage in southeast Chongqing.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China has built the world's largest high-speed railway network, with an operating mileage of 48,000 kilometers, covering 97 percent of cities with a population of over 500,000.

In addition to wider coverage, China's high-speed trains are getting faster. The CR450 high-speed train, with a test speed of 450 kilometers per hour and a commercial operating speed of 400 kilometers per hour, is now the fastest train in the world.

With the strong support of technological innovation, China's railways have been upgraded. They include the Fuzhou-Xiamen High-Speed Railway, the first cross-sea high-speed railway with a designed speed of 350 kilometers per hour, and the Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway, the world's highest-altitude electrified railway. The railways have accelerated the flow of people and materials, invigorating economic and social development.

Mega projects

The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link is a mega bridge-tunnel project in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in south China, completed after the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Starting operation in June 2024, the 24-km link has overcome many major technical problems and set several world records.

It has drastically reduced travel time between the city of Zhongshan and the technology hub of Shenzhen from two hours to around 30 minutes. Over the past year, it has seen 31 million vehicle trips and an average daily traffic of 86,000 vehicles, accelerating the high-quality integrated development of the Greater Bay Area.

The world's longest expressway tunnel, the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel, is located 4,000 kilometers from the link.

The 22.13-kilometer tunnel opened a new shortcut linking the southern and northern parts of China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, reducing the time taken to drive across the middle section of the Tianshan Mountains from several hours to about 20 minutes.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, over 90 percent of the main framework of the national transportation network has been constructed, connecting over 80 percent of administrative counties and serving about 90 percent of the population.

"Only through independent innovation in key technologies can we lead the world," said Song Shenyou, chief engineer of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link.

Green solution

On July 2, China's first methanol dual-fuel container ship, COSCO SHIPPING YANGPU, completed its maiden voyage to Yangpu Port in Hainan province in south China and was refueled with green methanol derived from urban kitchen waste and animal manure. The development of domestic dual-fuel ships and green fuels will boost the low-carbon transformation of China's shipping industry.

Rows of photovoltaic panels can be seen along the Jinan-Weifang Expressway in Shandong province in east China. This 161.9-kilometer expressway is China's first zero-carbon expressway, with an average annual carbon reduction of 61,000 tons.

According to a report released by the China Association for Science and Technology, China has built 33 green highway demonstration projects and 53 green ports.

Through innovation, China is contributing green solutions to the sustainable development of global transportation.