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Transportation: Blueprint of railways development

By Xin Dingding (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-17 13:50

A strong shot to the arm

Li Hong, the researcher under the NDRC comprehensive transport institute, believes that a large-scale railway construction boom can do more than expanding domestic demand.

"The construction usually lasts only one to two years for a city that the railway runs through, and its role on local economy is limited. The more significant contribution of a railway project to the local economy unfolds after its operation," he says.

The Qinghai-Tibet railway, for example, boosts tourism in Tibet. Meanwhile, it carries mineral resources out of Tibet, he says.

At present, the railway is the major transport means for bulk stock. Jin Yiyan, an analyst with Shanghai Shenyin & Wanguo Inc, tells Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post that 56 percent of coal, 84 percent of oil, 24 percent of steel, 22 percent of crop and 58 percent of cotton rely on rail transport.

But lack of enough rail transport capacity has caused only 54 percent of the transport demands to be met, he says. Especially in Shanxi, the leading coal production base in China, only 33 percent of the requests for rail transport can be satisfied, he says.

The gap between demand and supply has pushed the government to build more railways and increase the transport capacity. The plan is to build a fast passenger transport network, in order to separate passenger transport from cargo and increase transport capacities.

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